There has long been a suspicion that footballers are not entirely honest on weeks like these.
With a camera in their face and a reporter staring into their soul, there so often comes the insistence that these occasions are no different from any other, that not a single emotion or action is different.
But is that really the case?
“There definitely is a different feeling,” Dylan McGeouch confesses. “In the media, you’ll probably play it down – and the game itself is just another game – but the circumstances around it are different, the build-up is different. It naturally feels like there’s more riding on it. There’s always more people wanting tickets for these games, people you haven’t spoken to in a while!”
The former Hibs midfielder speaks with the full range of Hampden experiences under his belt, from ecstasy to agony, one of which awaits those who have followed him in green and white. It’s been six years since Hibs and Aberdeen last met at the national stadium, and Saturday’s reacquainting in the Viaplay Cup last four has a tall order in replicating the drama of 2017.
Ultimately, it was a painful Scottish Cup day for Hibs, and a sharp contrast to the unbridled joy of May 2016. McGeouch rode his own personal rollercoaster – injury doubt, shellshocked starter, goalscorer, and then subbed off in pain to watch Aberdeen run out 3-2 victors. The scoreline does not tell the full story of a tumultuous afternoon in Mount Florida, one where Hibs were left in a tailspin by the Dons scoring after just 12 seconds.
“It wasn’t the best start, was it? I never even touched the ball,” McGeouch laughs. “They were all over John McGinn right away, then the ball goes back to Darren McGregor and it’s just one mistake after the other in the first f*****g 12 seconds.
“And then we end up 2-0 down. But to be honest, in a way, it gave us the kick up the a**e we needed. There was almost a freedom in it, we were 2-0 down with nothing to lose, so we thought we might as well go for it now.
“Early on in these games, sometimes you can see a nervousness in teams. But after 12 seconds ours was actually gone, because we had no choice but to go for it. There was no point sitting back, or worrying about the goal we’d given away.”
The second was just as galling as the first, a Ryan Christie free-kick from near the corner flag flummoxing Ofir Marciano at his near post. The goalkeeper got a hand to it, but could only help the ball into the corner. Hibs hadn’t given all that much away, otherwise, but matters were quickly descending into calamity.
“The second goal was a big blow, to be honest,” McGeouch recalls. “At 1-0 down you know you can pull a goal from anywhere, but at 2-0 you’re thinking ‘aw naw’. Obviously, Aberdeen were a good side with a manager who knew how to see games out.
“And it wasn’t a great goal to lose. If someone sticks it in the top bin then fair enough, but the wall breaks and it sneaks in near post. You’re thinking ‘how are we 2-0 down here?’ They hadn’t hurt us much from open play, it had been our mistakes. But it gave the manager a decision to make, he had to change something.”
That something was Grant Holt, at the expense of a visibly distraught Fraser Fyvie.
“Obviously, Fraser was disappointed,” says McGeouch. “He’d come through at Aberdeen, he’s from there and he’d have known a lot of people there at the game. To come off in the first-half is never a good experience for anybody, but the manager had been forced to make a decision. To be fair to Lenny, he was never shy in making them. Looking back, it was a good one because it got us back in the game.”
Within minutes, Holt had risen at the back post to head in a Martin Boyle cross and reduce the deficit, an immediate vindication of Lennon’s decision. Perhaps it was selective camerawork, but every shot of the Hibs manager during that first-half captured a man in who looked danger of spontaneously combusting at any moment. You feared for his players’ eardrums as they descended back into the bowls of Hampden to regroup at the interval, but Lennon took a different tact.
“I don’t remember it being heated, actually,” McGeouch says. “I think it was a case of, it had been that bad there was really no point in going mental.
“Lenny had it in him to go mad, but it was more ‘listen, it’s been really bad, but it’s still there for us’. You could see right away that if we put a bit of pressure on them, got balls in the box, then there was goals there for us.
“Obviously, we had to stop making silly mistakes, but I don’t remember it being like other games where Lenny told us straight that it wasn’t good enough. It was more motivational, he wanted us to believe we could still win the game.
“Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of times he told you exactly what he thought. But he also knew the right time to put an arm round you – he was good at that. That day it was calmer and more level-headed.”
Maybe it was Holt’s goal that spared Hibs a dressing down. It was the sort of moment that endeared the burly veteran to supporters during his brief stint on Leith. McGeouch certainly remembers the big man fondly.
“He was a great guy,” he chuckles. “He was a bit of a father figure in the changing room because there was a lot of young lads. He was coming to the end of his career, but with the clubs he’d been at before he brought a lot of experience.
“But he enjoyed our company – he would stay up a few nights a week, come for something to eat with me, McGinn and a few others, and he would act like a big kid. He liked to feel young, I think! He was great for us, hitting out with o stories about scoring in the Premier League. It was great to have him around.”
McGeouch and Holt combined for Hibs’ deserved equaliser, the midfielder bouncing a one-two off his team-mate and racing through to finish smartly past Joe Lewis. It was a bittersweet moment for McGeouch, who couldn’t even celebrate properly, instead clutching a muscle injury which ultimately meant the end of his involvement.
“I’ve went on a run, played a one-two with big Holty, then opened my leg up to hit it under Joe Lewis," he says, tracing back the goal. "I just felt a twinge, and you can see in the celebrations that I’ve realised right away, I was grabbing my leg.
“I was thinking ‘aw f**k, I’ve done my groin here’. I tried to run it off for a minute or two, but I wasn’t any good.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to sprint or hit a ball properly. At that stage, we’re back in it at 2-2 and have the upper hand, you can’t be having passengers. It’d have been selfish, and detrimental to the team if I’d kept on running about trying to keep going.
“Everybody knew I’d been struggling through the week, and when they saw me hobbling about they had to make a decision. It wasn’t ideal after just scoring – we had our tails up – but for the team it was the best call.
“It’s not great, you’re in the thick of the game, back to 2-2 from 2-0 down and thinking we could get a winner. Then, suddenly, you’re sitting at the side and still kicking every ball.
“It was hard but that’s football. The way it ended was disappointing with the manner of the winning goal.”
Disappointing feels like somewhat of an understatement. The football gods had smiled upon Hibs on their previous visit to Mount Florida, but this time there was to be no grandstand finish, Jonny Hayes’ shot ricocheting off McGregor and wrongfooting Marciano for what proved to be the decisive moment. It was a crushing outcome for Lennon’s team, the emotions so cruelly contrasting to what had come before, and especially so considering how they had hauled themselves off the canvas.
“We didn’t deserve that,” insists McGeouch. “I think extra-time was the least we deserved, the chance to have a right go, especially with the way we’d come back. We looked like the team who was going to go and win it.
“The last time was the big day out in May, absolute chaos. Then we’re back a year later. It was a rollercoaster again – going behind, getting back in it. That’s the emotions of football.
“We were, obviously, majorly disappointed not to get to another cup final, but the fans at that time really bought in to the team and our efforts.
As the current Hibs crop attempt to right that wrong on Saturday, McGeouch will certainly be keeping a close eye on events. There is nothing but fondness in how he recalls his three years in Edinburgh, and it’s fair to say he hasn’t quite settled in the same way since, primarily due some bad luck with injuries.
A period at Sunderland followed, then Aberdeen, and most recently a short run at Forest Green Rovers before signing for Carlisle United during the summer. Still only 30, he has plenty good years in front of him yet, but he does admit to pining for Easter Road on occasion.
“I do miss it!” he says. “At the time, you’re just riding the wave. You’re not taking anything for granted, but you do think you’re going to be challenging to win things every year.
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“But then you move away in football, doing your own thing, and you don’t see that success of winning cups and leagues for a while. But that’s what the game is like. In certain leagues, sometimes staying up is just as important for that club. That’s a big part of football as well.
“I look back and see the success we had, the fans, how much we enjoyed it – everything about it was great. It’s good to look back on those memories and reminisce.”
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