Hibs kid Ryan Porteous on rest of season ... and breaking the cup

Ryan Porteous may have captained Hibs Under-20s to an SPFL Development League and Scottish Youth Cup double, but the defender won't be resting on his laurels with further big games to come on first-team duty.

Hibs captain Ryan Porteous insists he didn't break the trophy

The 19-year-old turned in a man-of-the-match performance at Hampden on Thursday night, scoring Hibs’ second as they came from behind to beat Aberdeen 3-1 in the final.

The celebrations have been kept to a minimum, however, with Porteous still involved in the top team as Neil Lennon’s side continue to battle Rangers and Aberdeen for second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

“It’s definitely up there as one of the best moments of my career,” he said. “It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, but at the end of the season we’ll look back and say it’s probably the highlight, winning the league and the cup.

“The gaffer said to us to enjoy Thursday night, but we were in training yesterday because it’s a big game today.

“We’ve got four cup finals to go with the first team and a chance to finish second and get a European spot, so we’ve got to be ready if the gaffer calls on us.

“We can’t go out and celebrate properly until the end of the season, but we can wait.”

Regardless of where Hibs finish, Porteous admitted that this campaign has already exceeded his wildest expectations.

“At the start of the season I was just hoping to make my debut and I would have been happy with that,” he recalled. “I didn’t know if I was going out on loan or if I was staying so I’m delighted that the manager’s had that much faith in myself and Oli [Shaw] and Fraser [Murray] as well.”

While widely impressing with his performances this term, one thing Porteous isn’t willing to take credit for is the damage to the trophy following Thursday’s triumph, which was in two parts by the time the young Hibees had climbed down off the podium.

“I was getting a few looks with some boys saying it was me, but it definitely wasn’t!” he insisted. “I’m not going to name names, but I think fixing it will have to come out of our fines money.

“It was alright when I lifted it but I think the superglue must have come off it – Celtic must have broken it the year before!”