The Irishman made six changes to the side which beat Kilmarnock in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Sunday and they put Caley to the sword in spectacular fashion.

Greece striker Georgios Samaras showed why Lennon is looking to offer him a new contract with a hat-trick.

Anthony Stokes scored a double - one from the spot - and Gary Hooper scored his first competitive goal for Celtic since signing from Scunthorpe in the summer.

"I've felt this was coming," Lennon said. "We have been creating chances in games and not putting them away.

"Any time you score six goals against any opposition it is very pleasing.

"I just want to send out a message. We have goalscorers in the team, goalscorers from midfield and I was pretty happy with the clean sheet.

"We looked a good team out there tonight.

"The confidence is good, the level of performance has been good but we put our chances away tonight.

"We are not getting carried away but the competition is healthy.

"The movement of the front three was very good and they will be a handful for any team.

"I was pleased with Hooper, it was a chance to get him 90 minutes.

"There wasn't a poor performance out there tonight, the application was good and the quality of the performance is very high."

Lennon reiterated his desire to keep Samaras at Parkhead.

He said: "Samaras was excellent and that will give him a lift.

"He was in a different position tonight but the timing of his runs were very good as was his level of performance.

"His attitude pre-season was fantastic and hopefully we will talk to his representatives next month."

The former Manchester City striker was reluctant to discuss a possible new contract, preferring to share the praise around with his team mates.

"First of all, I am really pleased with my team and we played good football," he said.

"It is always nice to score goals, I feel really well in myself and I hope we will build on this.

"We will talk about that (contract) later. You will know the details when the club and I am ready."

Lennon admitted midfielder Ki Sung Yueng was lucky to escape with only a yellow card after a reckless-looking tackle on Lee Cox.

The former Celtic skipper said: "He was a wee bit lucky. I don't think it was malicious, he was high and I've seen them given as a red.

"You hear this all the time but he isn't that type of player.

"Fortunately for Cox, he isn't badly injured, hopefully."

Caley boss Terry Butcher made five changes to his side and insisted that the SPL game against St Mirren was more important.

"The best decision was referee Dougie McDonald not adding on any more time," he quipped.

"I was pleading with him only to play 35 minutes in the second half.

"Any defender who had a pair of boots was playing, we had three defenders out.

"It wasn't nice for the fans to lose 6-0 and the goals we lost were criminal.

"But it was a balancing act, we had to rest a few players because the travelling takes its toll.

"We had to look to Saturday against St Mirren, that is the third game of the week and that is more important."

Butcher revealed that Cox left on crutches and said: "I feared the worst.

"He felt a bit dizzy on the pitch and I think it was the shock more than anything else.

"It was a yellow card, it's done and dusted and Lee will learn."