With Chris Sutton suspended and John Hartson still not match fit, Maloney stepped up to produce a great performance, making his mark on the game with two goals.
A Henrik Larsson opener in 14 minutes was cancelled out by a Dundee equaliser, but Celtic responded in the right way, and were 3-1 up at half time.
Dundee defender Lee Wilkie - who sold the points against Rangers several weeks ago - showed what a dire state Scottish football is in, he was robbed of the ball by Maloney, who netted in for his second goal.
Celtic had plenty more chances to win the game by more goals, but it was one of they nights where if we had scored 7, we would have wanted 8; if we scored 8, we would have wanted 9.
With Dundee scoring with the last kick of the ball, it put a slight dampener on the night, but Celtic are now top of the league by 2 goals and 3 points, albeit Rangers have a game in hand.
Great to see Martin O'Neill and the Celtic team applauding the fans at the end of the game. Not including European games, last night was the best game this season for atmosphere, and O'Neill and the players realised this.
Now it's Seville to look forward to, and the players have a week to shake off any knocks and get prepared for the biggest game of thweir careers.
Celtic:
Broto - 8
Valgaeren - 6
Balde - 8
Mjallby - 7
Thompson - 9
Lennon - 8
Lambert - 7
Petrov - 7
Larsson - 7
Maloney - 9 (Smith 83) - 6
Celtic-Mad Man of the Match: ALAN THOMPSON