Right, that is from me. Thanks for following along and congratulations to St Johnstone.
Here is the full report from Hampden on a momentous day for St Johnstone...
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“I had to wait my chance but I grabbed it with both hands and went for it,” says winning goalscorer Shaun Rooney.
“I’m always at the back post waiting and I managed to get above wee Doig to put it in.”
Fair to say he is beaming.
“Very special,” says Davidson as he thanks the St Johnstone owner Geoff Brown.
“It wasn’t easy. All credit to the players, we dug in. We didn’t look our sharpest today, which is due to what’s gone on in the last two week, but you saw the character and resilience. When we got the first goal i thought, we weren’t comfortable but we stuck to our game plan and if you’re being critical we should have put the ball in the back of the net a couple of times.
“I don’t think I’ve got the words to describe the effort they put in today. For a club like St Johnstone to win a cup double, all credit to everyone involved.”
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Glenn Middleton is discussing his penalty miss: “I took ten yesterday and put them all in top corner. I don’t know what I was doing.” Nervy finale for Middleton as he watched the final minutes on the bench.
There may be no fans at Hampden but the St Johnstone players are having a whale of a time with the trophy. Callum Davidson is in the middle bouncing up and down with the trophy in his hands. Where does he go next? In just his first season as a manager he has picked up two trophies with the club where he started and ended his career. Retire now, Callum. It will not get much better.
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The disappointment is clear on the face of the Hibs players as they collect their medals. They did not have it today, the front three failed to make their mark against a well-organised Saints defence.
David Wotherspoon is in tears. “He’s some boy,” the man of the match says of goalscorer Shaun Rooney. Really touching stuff as he sobs and swears through his thank yous to his wife and kids back home.
St Johnstone win the Scottish Cup!
Macey pumps it forward but to no avail, that is it! What a season for Callum Davidson, a domestic cup double and Shaun Rooney is the hero again!
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90+2 min St Johnstone able to run down the clock with the ball in the corner. Saints are minutes away from a historic double and Hibs have barely had a sniff.
90 min Five minutes to be added on.
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88 min Boyle goes in the book for a dive in the St Johnstone box. Desperate stuff from Hibs’ main man, he has barely been involved today.
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86 min All it will take is one goal for Hibs but it is hard to see where it is going to come from. Ryan Porteous is booked for hacking down Kane in the centre circle.
83 min It is getting desperate right now for Hibs. Long balls are being aimlessly pumped forward and it is all too easy for the Saints.
82 min Another Saints change, Middleton goes off and is replaced by Michael O’Halloran.
79 min Clark is called into action as Hanlon heads at goal from a free-kick but it is an easy one for Saints keeper.
78 min Change for Hibs, as Lewis Stevenson is on for Doig. For St Johnstone, James Brown replaces the goalscorer Rooney.
Macey saves the spot kick!
75 min Middleton’s effort is low and hard but Macey gets out a strong right hand, the keeper then gets up to keep out Kane’s follow-up. That could be a huge moment in this cup final!
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Penalty for St Johnstone!
Kane is bundled over. The striker is slipped in and is about to pull the trigger when McGinn makes a desperate foul. The defender gets a yellow for his troubles.
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72 min Melker Hallberg comes on for Newell as Ross rolls the dice.
71 min All of a sudden Middleton is leading a three-on-three at the Hibs back line. He tries to squeeze a ball through to Kane but gets a lucky bounce which opens up space for a shot. Macey spills the effort but no one is sniffing in the box for a rebound. St Johnstone are getting the better chances.
67 min It is just not breaking for Hibs at the moment. Ross’ side are having a lot more of the ball but not really making an inroads.
64 min Craig Bryson goes off and Murray Davidson comes on to bolster the St Johnstone midfield.
61 min Hibs now are starting to enjoy a period of pressure but an isolated Kane is doing some great work up front for the Saints. The striker is released down the right and almost picks out Middleton with his cross. There is a nice rhythm to this final now.
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58 min Clark is back on his feet. Relief for Davidson in the Saints’ technical area.
56 mins Great surging run from Josh Doig down the left to win Hibs a corner. Jamie Murphy trots on to replace Alex Gogić before Clark gets a big fist on the set piece. The keeper is down.
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53 min Saints looking slick in the final third now with Wotherspoon and Middleton linking up nicely.Time for Hibs to throw caution to the wind a bit more as St Johnstone look capable of getting another.
49 min Chance for Hibs as Newell lines up a free-kick on the right. St Johnstone fail to clear and Bryson guides a header at goal from Irvine’s dinked cross. Saints break at pace and Middleton looks like he is in before Newell gets back with a brilliant sliding tackle. Kane tries curl in the rebound but Newell gets in the way to block. A much quicker start to this second half.
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47 min Early sighter for Kevin Nisbet after a quick switch of play from Hibs but the forward can only drag his shot harmlessly wide.
Second half kick-off
Peeeep! Hibs get us underway for the second half, no changes for either side.
Half-time: St Johnstone 1-0 Hibernian
No added time at Hampden and the teams head down the tunnel for a break.
44 min St Johnstone will be wanting to get in at half-time with this lead now. They get a bit of a gift to kill the clock as Irvine picks up the game’s first yellow for a lunge near the halfway line.
40 min It is really is such a shame there are no fans in for this. A big occasion always elevates the atmosphere and despite this being highly watchable it all seems a bit flat with just noise from the players on the pitch.
36 min Newell has a chance to peg St Johnstone back almost immediately as he gets some room, but he can only lash his left-footed effort over the top.
35 min To say that had been coming would be generous but Rooney’s goal did come after a sustained period of pressure on the Hibs’ box. There were a few big tackles that led to Wotherspoon getting that bit of space, but Saints lead really out of nowhere.
Goal! St Johnstone 1-0 Hibernian
31 min Shaun Rooney nods Saints ahead! That is a great goal but it is all about the ball from Wotherspoon, the number ten finds a bit of space on the left and cuts the ball back on to his right foot. The cross is hung up perfectly to the back post for Rooney head back past Matt Macey. The winning goal scorer in the League Cup final has done it again.
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27 min Xander Clark makes a good save from Irvine after the ball squirts through to the winger off of Joe Newell. The St Johnstone keeper stayed big to keep out the best chance of the game, sticking out a left foot to turn it away.
23 min Jason Kerr does really well there as Boyle comes alive on the right hand side. Hibs work it well to get the Australian in space, he digs out an inviting cross that floats across the six yard box and forces Kerr to head over his own bar. Christian Doidge was waiting to pounce there, crucial header from the St Johnstone defender.
20 mins Hibs get numbers in the box as McGinn (brother of Aston Villa’s John) finds space on the right. The full-back’s cross is way overhit and that is the end of that.
16 min That is more like it, Glenn Middleton! The St Johnstone forward takes off on a lovely jinking run down the right, weaving into the box. He looks set to shoot unopposed when Paul Hanlon gets back with a saving sliding tackle to nullify the effort.
15 mins This is all about a tentative to be honest. The closest we have to come some to some action is the commentator apologising for the colourful language as Paul McGinn gets tangled up with David Wotherspoon at the byline.
12 min Great sequence for fans of blood and thunder football with about five headers in a row. Somewhere Brian Clough is tutting and muttering about grass in the sky.
9 min Good chance for Chris Kane as Craig Bryson lifts the ball over a defender’s leg and into the path of the St Johnstone’s striker. Kane rushes his effort though, blazing over the bar.
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6 min First sniff at goal for Hibs as Jackson Irvine lifts a looping ball into the box from the left hand side. Martin Boyle swings a boot at it but fails to make much of a connection.
3 min Quiet start so far. Neither side seem to want to overcommit. In a week when we have seen and heard fans come back to stadiums it is shame to see none at Hampden.
First half kick-off
Peeep! We are underway in the Scottish Cup final with St Johnstone start by lumping up field.
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The trophy has been brought out. The teams are imminent at Hampden.
Lovely little feature on BBC Scotland in the build-up to kick off. St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson is playing a bit of golf with Hibees celebrity fan Jamie Murray. The Dunblane-reared former Blackburn, Leicester, Preston and Scotland defender apparently used to babysit for a young Jamie and Andy Murray.
🗣️ ‘Dunblane’s two greatest sportsmen going to battle it out…’ 🤣
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 22, 2021
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson enjoys a round of golf with tennis star Jamie Murray before aiming to secure a cup double 🏆🏆 More on our Scottish Cup final live coverage...
⏰ 1.00pm
📺 BBC One Scotland pic.twitter.com/w4oeAE3M7E
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Hibs manager Jack Ross has been giving his thoughts pre-match. He told BBC Scotland: “For the players psychologically, it was important to leave this stadium as winners on the last occasion we were here, so the dynamics have changed. Even when you arrive at the stadium, there’s a different feeling for you.
“They have had tastes of both sides of it and it is the most recent one they want today at the end of the game.”
Still, St Johnstone’s social media team are already 1-0 up over Hibs. The original Hibees’ line up graphic only had ten men and no Martin Boyle:
Aye cheers for the graphic saying nae Boyle!!! Heart attack!! 🤣🤣
— David James Macniven (@davidjmac) May 22, 2021
It is not quite a blue sausage, but I think little says ‘cup final day’ more than a message on the side of a rubbish truck:
Our main sponsor @binnwaste have outdone themselves 😍#SJFC pic.twitter.com/EbPtxlhst1
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 21, 2021
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The teams
St Johnstone starting XI: Clark, Booth, Kerr, Gordon, McCart, McCann, Bryson, Rooney, Wotherspoon, Kane, Middleton.
Subs: Parish, Brown, Tanser, Craig, Davidson, Conway, Melamed, May, O’Halloran.
Hibernian’s starting XI: Macey, Hanlon, Porteous, McGinn, Doidge, Boyle, Newell, Gogic, Nisbet, Doig, Irvine.
Subs: Marciano, Gray, Magennis, Wright, Stevenson, Murphy, Hallberg, McGregor.
Preamble
There are some facinating storylines going into this Scottish Cup final. St Johnstone will become the first non-Old Firm club since 1990 to win two major honours in the same season if they beat Hibernian.
In what has been an incredible season in the knockout competitions for Callum Davidson’s side, the Saints have twice beaten all-conquering Rangers en route to the League Cup crown and the Scottish Cup final. Zander Clark’s heroics in the quarter-final should be well-known at this point but if St Johnstone beats Hibs someone really should be getting on the phone to any Hollywood producers looking for a new project.
With that increased focus on St Johnstone, perhaps perennial nearly men Hibs can pick up their first silverware since lifting this trophy in 2016. That year they came close to completing their own domestic cup double, losing in the Scottish League Cup final to Ross County to Alex Schalk’s 90th-minute strike.
If getting their name on the trophy is not enough, today’s winners will also upgrade their place in next season’s new Europa Conference League to the Europa League qualifiers. A prize we can all agree is worth the blood, sweat and tears.
Davidson’s selection at Hampden has been hampered by eight of his St Johnstone players being forced to self-isolate in recent weeks. Five of them only returned to training on Wednesday so match-sharpness will be a major consideration.
Hibs manager Jack Ross is rather more fortunate, being able to rest a clutch of starters in the home draw against Celtic last weekend and let his players know early about the starting XI for today’s game.
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