53
mins
But Thomas Rogne headed Celtic level with six
minutes remaining and neither side could grab a
winner.
Killie move to within three points of fourth-place Inverness.
Celtic, who had James Forrest and Emilio Izaguirre, back in their starting line-up following injuries, were keen to stamp their authority on the game early on with Forrest putting some dangerous crosses from the left into the Kilmarnock box.
From the other side, McGinn was also a threat, going close to scoring three times in succession.
The winger's first effort was comfortably saved by Bell but, moments later, the goalkeeper fumbled a cross and presented McGinn with another shooting chance but the Northern Ireland international fired wide.
McGinn was then put through on goal by Gary Hooper and drew a save from Bell with a low shot towards the near post.
After Izaguirre's shot was beaten out by Bell, the ball rebounded off a Kilmarnock defender and out of play but claims of a handball from the home side fell on deaf ears.
From the resulting corner, Ki Sung-Yeung's delivery was headed wide by Daniel Majstorovic.
Celtic were dealt an injury blow when Hooper went down after getting in a tangle with Frazer Wright and the striker was stretchered off to be replaced by Anthony Stokes before the rest of the first half petered out.
The home side were sluggish at the start of the second half and they were dealt a sucker punch when Killie scored the opener from a sweeping counter attack.
Bell gathered the ball from a Celtic corner and
threw the ball out to Mehdi Taouil. The Moroccan
released Sammon in on goal and the
striker kept his cool to fire past Fraser Forster
and into the net.
Celtic looked to respond with a series of corners and crosses into the box but Kilmarnock's stout defending kept their lead intact.
Neil Lennon made further changes by introducing
club captain Scott Brown from the bench at the
expense of Joe Ledley and replacing McGinn with
Paddy McCourt.
Stokes carved out a shot from distance but could not keep his powerful effort down and Daryl Murphy also cleared the crossbar after getting the break of the ball in the Killie penalty box with the goal gaping.
But Celtic kept up the pressure and Jamie Hamill's foul on Izaguirre gave the hosts a free-kick, from which Ki crossed to Rogne, who headed into the net via the post.
As the match moved into injury time, Killie mounted another breakaway and Sammon burst through and rounded Forster but the striker's cut-back was cleared by Majstorovic.
Murphy could have won it for Celtic at the death
but headed over after being found by Stokes's cross.
Conor
Sammon on Letting Celtic Off the Hook...
"We are really disappointed to have
come so close and then not hold on. I think we
were about five minutes away from winning so it's a
big blow to miss out. We haven't played well but
we've scrapped and fought to try and get the win.
It's been 50-odd years since we won here and we had
a few chances after scoring. The lads thought we
were close, we knew it could be our night so it's
disappointing to come off the park having drawn.
When I scored it was too soon to start thinking
about winning. There was a lot of football left to
be played. We expected Celtic to come at us hard,
which they did, but I thought we held out really
well. I thought we were going to see it out but
we've given away a free-kick and they've got a goal
from it".
On Not Taking A Cheap
Penalty At The End... "I'm not sure
how much contact the keeper got on me but I think he
did touch me. All I was thinking about was trying to
score, however, and for a split second it was going
through my head I was going to score the winner -
but it wasn't to be. I think it says a lot we
can come here, not play that well and still come
away with a result. But to have won it would have
been sweeter. We're improving all the time. The
manager is working hard with us on the training
ground to make sure we keep progressing."
Mixu's Post-Match Comments... "I'm disappointed. Football is a funny game. I think this was probably the worst we have played in terms of passing the ball. The first half was horrendous. All credit to Celtic because they put us under pressure but we should have done better in possession. The second half was better and we scored a goal from a good counter-attack. We defended solidly after that and Celtic couldn't get anywhere. But we lost a goal from a set-piece where there was poor man-marking. It was very disappointing. I felt we should have won in the end. Not because of the way we played but because we had a lead. We should have defended better at their goal. In my mind, we should have held on. But it shows how dangerous we are that we scored a goal despite playing like that."
