IT seems that Odsonne Edouard has had enough of his fellow Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths hogging the headlines. The Frenchman’s devastating cameo from the bench against Ross County served notice that in all the chat about the return to form of his teammate, he is still the number one sheriff in town.

Griffiths had been preferred to Edouard to lead the Celtic attack as Neil Lennon reverted to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, but it wasn’t until Edouard entered the fray just after the hour that the hosts really caught fire.

They were a goal to the good by that point through Callum McGregor’s first-half penalty, but County had acquitted themselves well at the home of the champions, and probably should have troubled the scoresheet themselves.

As it was, Edouard killed their hopes stone dead with two goals in three minutes, knocking the ball back into Rangers’ court ahead of their visit to Tynecastle.

Celtic went close early on as the set-piece combination between Griffiths and Christopher Jullien that worked so well at Rugby Park in midweek almost paid dividends again, the striker swinging over a free-kick that the big defender probably should have buried, succeeding only in heading straight at Nathan Baxter.

County had shown up well in the opening exchanges though, and a fine passing move that was typical of their early play allowed Joshua Mullin to get a shot away from the angle of the box that was smothered by Fraser Forster.

Mullin – finding acres in behind Jonny Hayes - had an even better chance soon after as a glorious long pass from Blair Spittal cut the Celtic defence in two and put him in on goal. The bouncing ball invited the lob attempt, but he got just a little too much on it, sending it a foot over the bar.

Only Spittal knows how he didn’t move the visitors ahead soon afterwards though, as the lively Mullin intercepted a poor touch from Jozo Simunovic to burst down the right and lay the ball back on a plate for the arriving midfielder. He tried to place the ball in the corner, but succeeded only in steering it wide of the post as the champions were given another reprieve.

They almost made County pay immediately as Mikey Johnston got to the byline and dinked the ball to the back post for James Forrest. His header back across goal looked in all the way, but Baxter threw up a hand and pulled off a brilliant save.

Don Cowie then got free again at the other end, firing across Forster and wide, with the alarm bells now ringing among the home crowd.

Their nerves were calmed though as McGregor fired a ball into the feet of Johnston inside the box, with Keith Watson adjudged to have clipped the winger as he spun towards goal. Referee Kevin Clancy pointed to the spot, and all of County’s sterling work to that point was undone as McGregor fired low into the bottom corner.

It could have been two moments later as Forrest jinked his way past two challenges in the box and fired across goal, with Griffiths arriving just a second too late to apply the finishing touch at the back post.

An unremarkable quarter of an hour passed after the interval before Griffiths made way for Edouard, and the rest seemed to have done the Frenchman some good as he wasted no time in killing the game, doubling Celtic’s lead with his first touch. McGregor turned provider this time, swinging in a corner that found its way to Edouard sneaking around the back to head home from close range.

He had his second moments later. Forrest fed the ball into the forward’s feet, and he sidestepped a challenge before firing a composed finish low across Baxter and into the bottom corner. He is now on 20 for the season in all competitions, with 16 coming in the league.

Johnston should have added a fourth as he closed in on goal, only to selflessly square for Forrest when a shot looked the better option, as his opposite winger was crowded out by County defenders.

Tom Rogic and Karamoko Dembele were given runouts before the end as Celtic could finally ease off the gas a little, but the destination of the points wasn't the only issue settled by that stage. Edouard had seen to that. If there was ever any doubt at all about it, he's the main man around these parts.