NOTHING will ever top the historic, come-from-behind, last-minute victory over Rangers in the William Hill Scottish Cup final on that sun-drenched day at Hampden last May for Hibernian supporters.
But this emphatic 3-1 victory over their Edinburgh rivals Hearts in a fifth round replay at Easter Road last night, a result which keeps their defence of the trophy alive, must surely come a not-too-distant second.
Neil Lennon’s public savaging of his charges after their 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers in a Ladbrokes Championship game at Stark’s Park had raised eyebrows. But his out burst clearly produced the desired response.
The defending champions brushed aside their top flight rivals with ease thanks to goals from the outstanding Jason Cummings and Grant Holt in the first half and Andrew Shinnie in the second.
Lennon is a veteran of many Old Firm derbies both as a player and a manager and it showed here. His side’s impressive showing will further ingratiate him to supporters who were already impressed with how he has overseen their push for promotion this term.
They now take on Ayr United at home in the quarter-final next month. If they can reproduce this sort of display then their followers could be treated to another visit to the national stadium for the semi-final.
Esmael Goncalves pulled one back for Hearts at 3-0 and Hearts did fight valiantly to the death. But at no stage in an utterly one-sided match did Ian Cathro's team threaten to get a result against their capital adversaries.
Scott Brown, the Celtic captain and Scotland midfielder, his team mate Liam Henderson, who was on loan at Hibs last season and had come on in the cup final victory, and their manager Brendan Rodgers were both in attendance. They would have been impressed with what they witnessed.
Chris Humphrey was one of three players - Martin Boyle and Grant Holt were the others - brought in by Lennon following his tirade at the weekend – but the winger only lasted two minutes before going to ground clutching his leg.
His manager was forced to introduce Andrew Shinnie in the fifth minute after Hunphrey failed to respond to medical attention and reshuffle his side. Boyle moved to the right flank to accommodate the substitute on the left.
The midfielder was clearly unaffected by the sudden change in role as he immediately burst upfield and squared a ball into the Hearts penalty area which the visitors scrambled frantically to clear before Aaron Hughes finally manager hoof to safety.
Despite being forced to make such an early change, Hibs dominated the first half. They controlled possession, won the physical battle and moved intelligently off the ball. That was in stark contrast to their opponents who struggled badly to impose themselves on proceedings. Ofir Marciano in the opposition goal had virtually nothing to do.
Hibs opened the scoring after a simple move in the 21st minute. Shinnie supplied Cummings with a diagonal ball into the Hearts box and the striker showed great composure to direct a low shot beyond Jack Hamilton and into the bottom right corner of goal. Cue utter bedlam.
They should have edged further ahead 13 minutes later after a delightful move involving Cummings and McGinn. The goalscorer chipped the ball over the heads of the defence to his team mate who forced a fine save from Hamilton. Shinnie pounced on the rebound and fired over the crossbar.
Cummings also supplied Liam Fontaine with a free-kick which the centre half should perhaps have done better with. He nodded the ball tamely wide. But it seemed only a matter of time before there was another Hibs goal and, sure enough, it came it came eight minutes before half-time.
Cummings received the ball from McGinn wide on the left before cutting inside and slicing open the Hearts backline with the neat left foot flick. Grant Holt replicated the forward’s earlier finish from an identical position and angle.
It was, even at that stage, all too much for many Hearts fans to take and many of them headed for the exits. Their team had certainly underperformed and disappointed. It was, too, difficult to see them clawing their way back into the match. But those who left the ground so early on should be ashamed of themselves.
Jamie Walker went into the referee’s book for a petulant foul on Lewis Stevenson just after that. Cathro had to make changes if his side was to get back into the game and he did so at half-time taking Perry Kitchen and Malaury Martin off and replacing them with Sam Nicholson and Rory Currie respectively.
But the second half started in much the same way as the first half had finished – with Hibs threatening to score. McGinn’s persistence won him the ball off Andraz Struna and he teed up Shinnie for a shot. Hamilton once again came to Hearts’ rescue.
The keeper, though, was at fault at Hibs' third in the 63rd minute. He should have done far better at a Shinnie shot from outside his area. He got an arm to it, but only succeeded in diverting it into his net.
Darren McGregor gifted Hearts a penalty five minutes later and was lucky only to be shown a yellow. Marciano saved the Goncalves spot kick, but was unable to keep out the follow-up shot. But it was far too little far too late.
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