Aberdeen 1 Hibernian 2

The Titanic disaster lay all of a decade into the future, last time Hibernian won the Scottish Cup. Now the Edinburgh team have earned the chance to break that 110-year long hoodoo and will return to Hampden Park to face either Celtic or Hearts, who meet this afternoon, to contest the final on May 19.

Hibs won the right to be part of the season’s finale after a match book ended by their goals against an Aberdeen side who only sparked into life after the interval. Garry O’Connor, despite another of his mixed performances – when body and mind sometimes looked sluggish – was involved in both of his side’s goals, scoring the first and setting up Leigh Griffiths for the second and decisive strike.

Hibs had enjoyed a release of pressure from their perilous league position on the approach to this game and they were easily the more carefree of the two sides in the opening exchanges and their initiative paid off within two minutes.

Kari Arnasson, Aberdeen’s Icelandic midfielder, was caught cold by the briskness of Hibs’ opening and he was dozing when the ball spun towards O’Connor from a deflected Isaiah Osbourne drive. The Hibs striker could not take advantage of the opening but Aberdeen did not disperse the danger and when a Leigh Griffith shot rebounded towards Pa Kujabi, the Easter Road full back deftly picked out the frontman in an area that should have been closed off by either Arnasson or Andy Considine.

Instead, O’Connor was able to spin and connect for an opportunist flick. Again, the danger could have been anticipated, but Brown did not react swiftly enough to shut down his near post and O’Connor’s effort squirted through the available space and over the line.

Hibs celebrated extravagantly but, far from building on their momentum, they retreated into a fragile shell, too unsure of their defensive capability to look anything but nervy. They also lacked players with the midfield presence to steady their play.

Even so, Aberdeen did not manage a single shot on target in a first half that begged for the interval to break the tedium.

“We started slowly and lost a goal which should never have been allowed to happen,” Craig Brown, the Dons manager, said.

“However, we changed things for the start of the second half when we sent young Fraser Fyvie on and he gave us an immediate lift. We played at a better tempo and we were well worth the equaliser when it came.”

Certainly, Rory Fallon’s leveller scored high on artistic merit. He snapped on to Matt Doherty’s attempted clearance and took the full-back’s dropping header on his chest before delivering a volleyed lob which left Graham Stack clutching air as the ball soared over his head from 22 yards on the hour mark.

Aberdeen prospered for a spell and Fyvie came close with a curving attempt that swung narrowly beyond the far post. Hibs then suffered what might have been a serious setback when Stack injured a hamstring while booting the ball upfield and was replaced by Mark Brown.

The substitute goalkeeper is well known for being uncertain when dealing with back passes but Aberdeen failed to put him under pressure and Hibs began to make inroads in what was a nervy finish for both teams.

The coup de grace was administered by the lively Leigh Griffiths from a counterattack which was linked by O’Connor, who dropped back from an

offside position to switch a pass ahead of his team-mate, who got goal-side of Clark Robertson and measured his shot precisely across Brown to cross the line inside the far post.

The five minutes that remained of normal play were doubled by the addition of injury time and Aberdeen battered at the green door. Despite Hibs’ palpable edginess, the Pittodrie side could make no further inroads and Pat Fenlon’s players celebrated extravagantly when the final whistle sounded at last.

“I don’t care who we get in the final,” the Hibs boss said. “Celtic and Hearts are two great clubs and it will be a very difficult match no matter which of them gets through.

“I do know we’ll have to play a lot better than we did today, but we have time to look at that and all our players will be desperate to book a place in the final. And, yes, I know all about the cup jinx – they were telling me about it as soon as I got in the door at Easter Road.

“But I’ll think about that nearer the time. For the moment, I’m off back to Dublin and I would imagine I’ll have a glass of stout or two tonight.”

Taken from telegraph.co.uk