Jamie McGrath is desperate for another moment of Hampden glory - so he can be the Hibs hero rather than the villain this time! The Irish international is hoping that is the case when the Hibees take on Rangers in next month's Premier Sports Cup final.
A painful memory
The midfielder was part of the Aberdeen squad that lifted the Scottish Cup back in 2025. A late injury cost him his cup final place and a medal, as Jimmy Thelin's side went on to famously beat Celtic on penalties. McGrath, who had already signed a pre-contract with Hibs, watched from the stands as the Dons lifted their first Scottish Cup in 35 years, costing his future employer direct entry into European group stage football.
"It's still the best few days of my life," McGrath insisted. "Winning the Scottish Cup, it's amazing. The scenes afterwards. Obviously, It had a knock-on effect that the boys [at Hibs] didn't let me forget after! You're caught up in the moment. Everybody's there. Supporting your family and everything. To win a Scottish Cup is special. We certainly enjoyed the celebration. I don't think any of the boys who weren't in the squad got one (a medal). I'll have to try and get a replica somewhere."
Fighting for a place
McGrath, who netted the semi-final winner against Hearts, would love a repeat in green and white. He recalls how he desperately tried in vain to get on the bench for that Scottish Cup final after he had suffered a muscle injury.
McGrath admitted: "I remember I knew I was goosed on the Thursday. I felt my calf and said to the gaffer (Thelin), can I try train Friday? He was like, yeah, I'll give you a chance. I think you could see straight away I couldn't move. I was just trying to get on the bench. He had to pull me after. He just said, listen, I don't think you're right. Which is probably the worst news I've had to miss a Cup final. It didn't matter though in the end. The boys did the job and we partied for days. It was a special few days."
McGrath is hoping to keep himself fit and in good form to make sure he is one of the first names on Marink Reedijk's starting XI. He stated: "Of course, everybody will be. Hopefully we'll have a fit and healthy squad. I think we're close to getting a lot of boys back as well. Everybody will be chomping at the bit. It's a Cup final. You'll always remember when you retire. Everybody will be raring to go."
Experience to share
The 30-year-old will also be hoping he can bring the luck of the Irish. He has won the FAI, League of Ireland, President's of Ireland Cup and the Champions Cup in his spells with St Patrick's Athletic and Dundalk.
McGrath insisted: "I've won a lot of cups at Dundalk earlier on in my career which was great. I had a lot of special nights back home. I've been there with St Pat's as well in the National Cup final. I've been lucky to see what winning means early on in my career. Obviously winning the cup with Aberdeen and stuff like that. I think the more experience you have the better going out there today. I think the boys handled it well, especially Owen Elding. Some of the boys' first time playing out there I thought they took it in their stride. Hopefully I can bring that kind of experience because a lot of the boys have played in big games. It's up to us now to tell the boys what it's like and obviously try our best."
A launchpad for the season
Hibs now have to use this as the launchpad for their season. McGrath knows they sprung an upset against Hearts - which ended with the national stadium having Sunshine on Leith echo around Hampden. He claimed: "I don't know if the boys are big on social media or whatever. We're well worthy of the kind of things that are thrown at us because we haven't been good enough for large spells this year. It's nice to show the fans and give them something to cheer about today. Like I said, we haven't given them a lot to cheer about so far. It's nice to send them back home happy. The scenes at the end were incredible."
The ex-St Mirren player was confident it was only a matter of time before things clicked for Reedijk. "I think we played really well during midweek," the Hibs player insisted. "We showed similar kind of traits to what we'd done in St Mirren midweek, but we just didn't get that win. I think we just have to stop kind of conceding them sloppy goals. We're working very hard to eradicate it. We'll obviously look at it now on Monday. If we do that, we'll give ourselves a really good platform to win games because at times we control large spells of the game. The pleasing thing was coming from a goal behind today because it's something that we're aware of we haven't done in quite a while. To do that when it matters the most in a cup semi against your nearest and dearest, it's great."
