NEW Celtic signing Shane Duffy marked his first appearance for the club in style as the centre-back got on the scoresheet in a commanding 5-0 win over Ross County in Dingwall.

Neil Lennon's side were two up at the interval but had struggled to get into gear, with the hosts looking dangerous and pressing the Premiership champions' back line.

The on-loan Brighton defender scored his side's third with a header from a corner around the hour mark to move the game outwith County's reach before goals from Kris Ajer and Patryk Klimala ensured Celtic left the Highlands with three points and five goals to their name.

Duffy, 28, was delighted to get on the score sheet in his maiden appearance for his boyhood club - and revealed that some words exchanged in the away dressing room at half-time, as well as a couple of crucial stops from new goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas, ensured his team got the win on Saturday.

Speaking to the Celtic website, Duffy explained: "It was obviously great to get off to a good start and to get the win, a clean sheet and a goal on top of that, that’s a bonus.

"It was a tough game, despite the scoreline, especially in the first half. We weren’t happy going in at half-time, we sorted a few things out and then in the second half, we controlled it from there.

"Barkas in goal had a few big saves and kept us the clean sheet. Overall it was good but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

"That was my first game so I’m still getting to know the lads as well and getting to know how to play with them, so I’ll learn from that and it was a good game overall."

It was an encouraging display from the Republic of Ireland captain, who will be hoping to nail down a starting place in Lennon's starting XI in the coming weeks.

A huge factor in that will, of course, be how quickly Duffy can acclimatise to his new surroundings. Constant communication with his team-mates will be key, he says, and the centre-half feels that dialogue has already started in earnest - as evidenced by his goal at the Global Energy Stadium.

He added: "With the goal, Cal [McGregor] had hit the front post with the corner before so I’d said to him, just miss the front post again and I’ll have a chance.

I fancy myself in every game to get a chance at least, so if the ball’s right, I’ll go and attack it and I hit the sweet spot.

"Communication is part of my game, I feel like as a leader I’ve got to communicate and keep everyone on it.

"I know in games when it’s 2-0 it’s never over, and it’s about those small details, trying to keep everyone on their toes, to keep us going and pushing more to try and finish off the game. I try and do that and then, obviously, concentrate on my own game.

"We’ve got to take all of the positives from the Ross County game, but we also want to improve as well. If we start the way we did on Wednesday against St Mirren, we might get punished, but, first game back in yesterday - my first with the lads - so we’ll move forward from here and always look to improve."