Hibs star's Hampden medal mission as match winner Jamie McGrath sends Rangers Premier Sports Cup Final warning
Irishman’s goal sealed historic win over Hearts at national stadium
Jamie McGrath is eager to make up for Hampden heartache by getting his hands on a winner’s medal at the national stadium – after playing a starring role in a historic Hibs win over Hearts. And the midfielder, who scored the winner in yesterday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final, says there’s no reason why his team shouldn’t do a league and cup double over Rangers to lift a piece of precious silverware in next month’s final.
An injured McGrath didn’t even make the bench for Aberdeen as they lifted the Scottish Cup after beating Celtic on penalties in May of 2025 – and was denied a winner’s medal despite playing in the semi-final win over Hearts. The Irishman, who had already signed a pre-contract agreement to join Hibs, still enjoyed a victory that, ironically, meant he and his new Easter Road team-mates faced a tougher route in European football a matter of weeks later.
‘Probably the worst news’ - McGrath on being ruled out of Dons squad
"It's still the best few days of my life,” he said. “Winning the Scottish Cup, it's amazing. The scenes afterwards.
“Obviously I had knock-on effects that the boys (at Hibs) didn't let me forget after! You're caught up in the moment. Everybody's there supporting, your family and everything. To win a Scottish Cup is special. We certainly enjoyed the celebration.
"I remember I knew I was goosed on the Thursday. I felt my calf and said to the gaffer: ‘Can I try train Friday?’ He was like: ‘Yeah, I'll give you a chance.’ I think you could see straight away I couldn't move. I was just trying to get on the bench.
“He had to pull me after. He just said: ‘Listen, I don't think you're right’ Which is probably the worst news I've had, to miss a Cup final.
“It didn't matter though, in the end. The boys did the job and we partied for days. It was a special few days.”
Asked if he had been awarded a medal, McGrath revealed: "No, actually, no. I played in the semi-final against Hearts actually. I don't think any boys that weren't in the squad didn't get one. I'll have to try and get a replica somewhere.”
Not long turned 30, McGrath isn’t alone in hoping that he maintains fitness and form to guarantee himself a crack at Rangers on December 13, saying: "Of course, everybody will be (wanting to play). Hopefully we'll have a fit and healthy squad. I think we're close to getting a lot of boys back as well.
“Everybody will be chomping at the bit. It's a Cup final. You'll always remember when you retire. Everybody will be raring to go.
"I've won a lot of cups at Dundalk earlier on in my career which was great. I had a lot of special nights back home. I've been there with St Pat's as well in the National Cup final.
“I've been lucky to see what winning means early on in my career. Obviously winning the cup with Aberdeen and stuff like that. I think the more experience you have, the better.
“I think the boys handled it well against Hearts, especially Owen Elding. Some of the boys' first time playing out there, I thought they took it in their stride.
“Hopefully I can bring that kind of experience because a lot of the boys have played in big games. It's up to us now to tell the boys what it's like.”
Hibs target league and cup double over Rangers
Derek McInnes and Rangers lie in wait for Hibs back at Hampden, with the Old Firm giants having eventually squeezed past Aberdeen in their semi-final on Saturday. The fact that Hibs, albeit under different management, beat the Light Blues at Ibrox back in August can only give Marink Reedijk’s men confidence.
"We've already beaten them this season,” stressed McGrath, the experienced attacking midfielder adding: “We know they're obviously a very good side with quality right throughout.
“We have to think the same because we've controlled large parts of the game against Hearts. We're obviously still learning and hopefully we can keep getting better and better. Iron out the small details because it's a bit of a change of style and stuff like that.
“It's about maybe doing it for 90 minutes as opposed to a good 60 to 70 minutes as we've seen at Hampden. We've shown we can do the other side as well. I think the boys at the back defended brilliantly for the last 20 minutes. I don't think we really looked like conceding, which was great.
“It was a special day for us. Into a cup final now, obviously beating your closest rivals and giving the fans something to cheer about.
“Probably long overdue because our league form hasn't been great. So hopefully now we've kind of put that behind us and we've shown what we can do when we're all on it.”
Beating ‘nearest and dearest’ rivals Hearts is special
Addressing the criticism directed at Hibs, still stuck at the foot of the Scottish Premiership and written off by most pundits ahead of yesterday’s game, McGrath admitted: “We're well worthy of the kind of things that are thrown at us - because we haven't been good enough for large spells this year. It's nice to show the fans and give them something to cheer about today. We haven't given them a lot to cheer about so far.
“It's nice to send them back home happy. The scenes at the end were incredible.
“We've obviously lost the previous gaffer as well, so it's not been a nice spell for us. I think we just keep grinding.
“Since the new gaffer came in, we've had a really intensive period. We're all working really tirelessly to put it right because we know where we're sitting in the league. We don't want to be there for much longer.
“We obviously knew this big tie was coming up. I think we're slowly and surely putting performances together that I hope the fans can see we're going the right way.
"I think it's been coming because I think we've shown a lot of signs, especially over the last few weeks. Things are slowly but surely clicking. Obviously we're all learning what the gaffer wants and all the small details that he's instilling into us. I think we're slowly but surely getting there.”
While yesterday’s performance was easily the best under new manager Reedijk, in his fifth game at the helm, McGrath believes that there had already been signs of the plan paying off, saying: “I wouldn't say anything necessarily just clicked. I think we played really well during midweek. We showed similar kind of traits to what we'd done in St Mirren midweek, but we just didn't get that win.
“I think we just have to stop kind of conceding sloppy goals. We're working very hard to eradicate it. I think if we do that, we'll give ourselves a really good platform to win games because at times we control large spells of the game.
“I think the pleasing thing was coming from a goal behind because it's something that we're aware of we haven't done in quite a while. To do that when it matters the most in a cup semi against your nearest and dearest, it's great.”