It might have been six long years ago and John McGinn might now be a Scotland Hall of Famer and the captain of an English Premier League side but he will never forget May 21, 2016. Or May 22, 2016, for that matter.
His 27-year-old features light up with all the boyish enthusiasm he had as a 21-year-old on the day he helped Hibs end their 114-year Scottish Cup hoodoo by beating Rangers 3-2 at Hampden. McGinn sat down with BT Sport’s Currie Club podcast and the man who led the Leith side to glory that sun-kissed day at Hampden, Alan Stubbs, to reopen the memory banks and deposit a few that hadn’t been told previously.
And no matter what else the Aston Villa skipper goes on to achieve in his career, McGinn is adamant nothing will beat the hours that followed the final whistle. “The party was unrivalled,” he smiles. “My apartment was an absolute dive. I was in a student block in Edinburgh – I was grossly underpaid at Hibs!
“I had the worst apartment in the team but it was a great location, a party location. The nightclub shut but we were still high as kites, so it was everybody back to mine.
"The next thing was that we had to go on the open top bus without sleeping a wink and with everyone absolutely blitzed. I don’t regret one bit of it. All my family were there, my friends, all the players’ families and friends, in this wee two-bedroom flat at the bottom of the Royal Mile.
“We were still in our suits the next morning – stinking – and we actually walked it to Easter Road. Abbeyhill to Easter Road is not far but it took us more than an hour. It was like something from Little Britain, walking down with a roll and sausage and a can. We’ll never experience anything like it.
“It sunk in for me on the open top bus going down Leith Walk. I was younger then and just buzzing, really excited. If it happened now, I would be a bit more emotional.”
McGinn admits he wasn’t emotional as David Gray bulleted home the late header that made history. Just relieved.
“There was something about the last 10 minutes,” he recalls. “Fraser Fyvie was like a man possessed. I’ve watched it back about 10 times and there was a moment in that game where he just grabbed it by the scruff of the neck. I remember at that point, I was gubbed. I had roomed with Jason Cummings and we’d been up late!
“I remember the goal vividly. I knew extra-time was coming and my legs were cramping. You couldn’t have written a better script with a fairytale ending.
“It came too late for them to score but you’re still thinking, ‘If they score here it will be the worst ever.’ After the celebration it was just about keeping the ball out of our net. It was nuts.”
Stubbs, who admits he made a huge mistake by leaving Hibs for Rotherham after the final, insists his team perfectly carried out his gameplan. “We respected that Rangers had some really good players but I wanted to take the game to them,” he says.
“We knew they had weaknesses. We worked on the set-piece to the front-post area. We knew James Tavernier and Lee Wallace played so high that there was space in behind them in the wide areas.
“Anthony Stokes’ early goal came from it. His second goal and the winner came from it. It couldn’t have gone any better. I got the sense that when Rangers went 2-1 up that they thought they’d done it.
“But they didn’t know what our players had. They had reserves by the bucketload, especially John, and they don’t know when they’re beaten.”
“When I put Hendo (Liam Henderson) on I knew his deliveries could be an asset for us and he put two of the most important crosses in the history of Hibs right on the button. Stokesy on the end of the first one and obviously Dave Gray, who would throw himself through a brick wall. For Dave to get that goal, with him being the captain...it was a great moment. ”
Stubbs admits knowing what the win meant to the people around him gave him the most satisfaction. “It was mentioned from when I first went in,” he says. “It only happens to Hibs.
"It was something that resonated with a lot of the staff. I got the impression that I needed to change not just the playing squad but the mentality within the place to get them thinking they were good enough to stop this.
“Even speaking to the kitman Tam, who was a great guy, he was always going: ‘We’re cursed.’ I had to overcome that because the kitmen are some of the most important people at the club. They speak to all the players and you don’t want them giving the players negative vibes.
“I was calm at the final whistle. More delighted for everybody around me because they’d lived and breathed it .The biggest memory was hearing Sunshine On Leith. The fans singing that was a ‘wow’ moment.”
McGinn grins in agreement. “I don’t think the situation will ever be matched,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll be in that scenario again. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some brilliant days but I don’t think that one will ever be matched.”
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