Celtic registered another home win, but this was no routine rout and once again it was the man in the middle who was the centre of post-match attention.
Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies was left biting his tongue when questioned about the performance of referee Steve Conroy, replying: "I'll get in trouble if I say what I think." He felt particularly hard done to by penalty decisions. Celtic were awarded a spot-kick in the 63rd minute after Simon Ford appeared to win the ball from Henri Camara, while Killie were denied a similar award less than two minutes later.
"Even John Robertson thought that if one was a penalty, so was the other," said Jefferies.
Alan Thompson rubbed it in further by slamming the spot-kick home for what proved to be the winner.
Martin O'Neill admitted that a heated debate had ensued in the technical area following the second incident, but has refused to be drawn. He said: "John and Billy (Brown) had words, but I didn't get involved." The champions dominated throughout, but needed the benefit of the referee's decisions to beat young Graham Smith in the visitors' goal.
Smith had to step in as influential goalkeeper Alan Combe was unable to shake off the effects of a dead leg he received earlier in the week.
O'Neill picked the same starting 11 from Tuesday's Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk, meaning there was still no place for Juninho.
The rain tumbled relentlessly and Celtic had to weather an early storm from Kilmarnock.
The opening ten minutes saw the Ayrshire side in the ascendancy and the visitors twice came close to taking the lead inside ten minutes.
Craig Dargo had the first chance when Freddy Dindeleux's pass beat Stanislav Varga. The striker opted to shoot early from 40 yards, but his lobbed effort drifted wide.
Kilmarnock started with confidence and some patient play gave Danny Invincibile a crossing opportunity and he found the in-form Colin Nish, but David Marshall threw himself brilliantly to his left to parry the ball away.
Celtic pushed their full-backs forward to curb the progress of Killie's wide men, and the change turned the tide in the champions' favour, but it was not until the half-hour that they started to trouble the young keeper.
John Hartson, playing for a new contract and once again outstanding, controlled Neil Lennon's shot, but his effort on the turn was superbly touched round the post by Smith.
The keeper made an even better save a minute later when he finger-tipped Thompson's drive over the bar.
The home pressure continued and Varga rattled the crossbar with a bullet header from Thompson's in-swinging corner in the 34th minute.
Smith made another fine save from a Thompson drive following an assist from referee Conroy, when he got in the way of a Kilmarnock breakaway, and the visitors were incensed when another refereeing intervention led to the opening goal a minute before the break.
He awarded a free-kick to the home side after the ball struck David Lilley's hand when he challenged for a loose ball on the edge of the area. Jefferies admitted afterwards that he felt this was another harsh decision. "You ask good defenders to go and charge the ball down. If it did hit his hand, there's no way it was deliberate." Teenager Aiden McGeady took no notice of the furore and following a couple of daisy steps which constituted a run-up, he swept the ball over the wall and in at the right hand post.
Celtic went two ahead from the penalty spot eighteen minutes into the second half. Camara went down under Ford's challenge and Thompson sent Smith the wrong way.
Killie's penalty claim followed a minute later when Gary McDonald was sent sprawling by the challenge of Didier Agathe, but this time the referee waved play on.
Celtic continued to dominate and a strong run from Stilian Petrov from the right wing ended with a rising drive which Smith tipped over the top.
Kilmarnock grabbed a lifeline in the 89th minute. Substitute Steven Naismith did well to beat McNamara and find Gordon Greer and the full-back slid a perfect pass to Nish who stroked the ball home.
O'Neill admitted his side had played much better this term, but was happy to take the points. "We didn¹t play well today," he said. "We have played well this season and scored goals, but credit to Kilmarnock, they made it difficult for us." Killie boss Jefferies hailed his team's performance. "That was the best team performance since we came here," he said. "Celtic had nothing to hurt us except free-kicks and corners." Man of the Match: John Hartson For once the Welsh striker did not find the target but he again demonstrated why Martin O'Neill should offer him a new deal in the summer.