St Mirren hammered Kilmarnock at blustery Paisley to move onto the shoulder of Hearts in the battle for a Premiership top six place. Caolan Boyd Munce and a Roland Idowu penalty had the Buddies 2-0 up and comfortable in the early stages. Boyd-Munce then added a second as Mark O’Hara and Declan John rounded off the 5-1 hammering for Derek McInnes’ men, who netted a late spot kick through Bruce Anderson. Before the international break both of these sides were involved in draws of very different kinds, the hosts surrendered a two-goal lead only leaving Fir Park with a point, meanwhile at Rugby Park, Killie rescued a late equaliser against Hibs. Ayunga was played in and laid the ball back for Boyd-Munce who, for the second league game in a row put Saints in front, this time after five minutes. And, shortly after, it was 2-0. Idowu scored from the spot as Ayunga was fouled inside the box. Liam Polworth should have halved the arrears for the visitors on 24 minutes but the midfielder saw his close-range header float harmlessly over the top. Saints then had gilt-edge opportunities to put some daylight between the teams but neither Taylor nor Phillips could add to home side’s advantage any further before the break. Boyd-Munce got his second goal of the afternoon after 57 minutes when his deflected shot wrong footed a helpless Robby McCrorie , which finished the game as a contest. Skipper O’Hara and John, who signed a new contract on the eve of the game, got in on the act too as Saints hit five. A late penalty from Anderson pulled one back for Killie but they were no match for the brilliant Buddies. Here's three talking points from Paisley After failing to win on any of their three Premiership games, St Mirren picked up a vital three points at as they look to put in a last dash push for the top six with just another two games remaining. Last time out a draw against Motherwell, in which the Buddies were 2-0 up, may have been a damaging result on that front, however, this win could reignite the challenge for the Paisley side who have struggled to score goals at times this season. But that hasn’t been a problem in the last four outings, notching seven in that time and this task was made harder by the absence of the suspended top scorer Toyosi Olusanya and the injured Mikael Mandron. That meant others had step up to the plate for Stephen Robinson’s team and Boyd-Munce twice, Roland Idowu, Mark O’Hara and Declan John all duly delivered. Kilmarnock gaffer Derek McInnes would have been hoping to get back to winning ways in Paisley after four games without a victory. The last gasp equaliser against Hibs before the international break would have given them confidence but the Rugby Park side would have been boosted by their own recent record at the SMISA Stadium, where they are unbeaten in five games, winning three and they have not lost to the Buddies anywhere since 2021, a run of 10 matches in all competitions. Despite the recent head-to-head, Killie have failed to take any points back to Ayrshire and are now on a run of five winless matches after a real shocker. St Mirren attacking midfielder Roland Idowu came into the team for the suspended top goal scorer Toyosi Olusanya and he’s never going to replace the 12 goals. But what he does give you is maximum impact alongside Jonah Ayunga, they ran the Kilmarnock defence ragged this afternoon and of course he tucked away tthe early spot kick. It must give Stephen Robinson a selection headache for next weekend against Dundee.