Livingston 0 Celtic 2
Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson strengthened their claims for England call-ups by hitting the net at Almondvale today to keep Celtic's relentless march towards the Bank of Scotland Premier League title on track.
Despite playing in several positions for Celtic this season Sutton is now just one goal behind 17-goal Henrik Larsson in the Parkhead scoring charts.
His latest clinical strike was invaluable as it helped increase Celtic's lead at the top of the table to eight points at a ground where Rangers were held to a goalless draw.
Celtic's full-strength side had far too much class for Davie Hay's men and they will now go to Lyon for their final Champions League Group A game confident of the draw needed to make the knock-out stages.
O'Neill will be without in-form Thompson, who weighed in with the second late on, for the vital trip to France through suspension.
Celtic were looking to get this one finished early as Larsson ran onto Sutton's flick-on but snatched at the chance and fired high and wide from a tight angle.
Livingston goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie was forced to make a save a minute later to keep his side on level terms.
Sutton had time and space in the box to feed the overlapping McNamara and his right-foot drive was pushed behind for a corner.
Livingston finally got out of their half in the 10th minute when Burton O'Brien played the ball to Francisco Quino who blazed over the crossbar from distance.
But the Celtic pressure was relentless and Larsson curled a superb right-foot effort just over from the corner of the penalty box.
Bobo Balde also went close in the 15th minute when Thompson fired the ball to the back post where the defender was lurking, but he could only head into the sidenetting.
But Celtic had some cause for concern moments later when Thompson was helped off the field after coming off worse in a full-blooded challenge with Emanuel Dorado. He returned to action quickly though.
Eventually Hedman did have something to do just before the half-time break when he tipped over Jamie McAllister's free-kick.
Three minutes after the restart Thompson played the ball up to Sutton who turned to leave Oscar Rubio for dead before drilling a low shot past McKenzie and into the bottom corner.
Larsson thought he had increased Celtic's lead in the 55th minute when he sent the ball towards goal but a faint touch from McKenzie took the sting out of his effort to give Dorado the chance to clear.
That brought an instant reaction from the home side, who threatened themselves.
Pasquinelli sent O'Brien away down the left and Hedman could only flick the ball into the danger area, although Livingston were unable to capitalise.
The game was over in the 85th minute when Thompson hit an unstoppable volley past McKenzie which nestled into the back of the net.
McNamara was booked for a foul on Pasquinelli before the Livingston man got his revenge by catching the Scotland international on the arm.
Thompson was replaced by Johan Mjallby and walked back to the dressing room clutching his arm.