 McGeady and McDonald menaced the Dons defence |
Celtic opened their Scottish Premier League campaign with victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie thanks to an inspired performance by Aiden McGeady.
The midfielder opened the scoring from close range and then grabbed a second with an excellent curling strike.
Scott McDonald made it three before half-time as the home side's defensive frailties were exposed.
Sone Aluko pulled one back for Aberdeen after the break but it proved to be no more than consolation for the Dons.
Celtic engineered several openings in the early stages with McDonald and McGeady both threatening before Dons goalkeeper Jamie Langfield twice denied Shaun Maloney.
At the other end, newly appointed Aberdeen captain Mark Kerr could not find the target with a half-chance on the edge of the Celtic box.
Marc-Antoine Fortune drew a save from Langfield with a low drive on 26 minutes shortly before firing wide.
And Celtic's pressure finally paid off on 29 minutes when Fortune's shot was blocked by Langfield and ricocheted back off the striker into the six-yard box where McGeady volleyed into the net.
Aberdeen continued to struggle to contain Celtic and Zander Diamond made a crucial block from Fortune's shot before Langfield pulled off a point-blank save from McDonald.
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee tried to alter the pattern of the game by introducing Darren Mackie in place of Stuart Duff.
McGeady found the net again in the 42nd minute when he received the ball 20 yards from goal before twisting and turning past Kerr and unleashing a superb swerving shot beyond Langfield.
And McDonald finished the match as a contest when he capitalised on a poor clearance by Richard Foster by slamming the ball low into the corner a minute before the break.
Both sides made changes early in the second half with Scott Brown replacing Glenn Loovens for Celtic and Aberdeen's Michael Paton coming on for Chris Maguire.
Aberdeen reduced the deficit in the 61st minute when Paton's cross was cleared to Aluko, who chested the ball down and beat Artur Boruc with an impressive dipping volley.
Samaras side-footed effort was palmed away by Langfield as Celtic looked to dampen the Dons' rejuvenation and Fortune fired wide from an audacious angle before being replaced by Chris Killen.
The Dons suffered an injury blow when Diamond had to be stretchered off following an accidental collision with Kerr and the defender was replaced by Andrew Considine.
Aberdeen should have scored a second in the 83rd minute when Aluko escaped Andreas Hinkel and delivered a dangerous low ball but neither Lee Miller or Gary McDonald could convert, allowing Danny Fox to clear. McDonald then volleyed over from a promising position.
Langfield denied McGeady a hat-trick with a solid save and Maloney had to be withdrawn late in the match with a strain.
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee: "We found it difficult to cope with Celtic's movement in the first half with the movement of their strikers.
"But within that there were individual errors which we can sort out.
"We had a new back four and I could see things I'll have to fix. But there were elements that I can take encouragement from. Now we go onto the next game."
Celtic manager Tony Mowbray: "Particularly in the first half, with our domination, we should have given ourselves a bigger advantage.
"Then, in the second half, we allowed Aberdeen to score a goal.
"I'm not 100% happy but obviously delighted to get a win away from home. This is a difficult place to come. We've got things to work on."
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