Can Saints make it third time lucky after hammering Hibees?
Kerr (35), Rooney (48), Conway (62)
Bold and convincing winners here, St Johnstone will return to the National Stadium on February 28 in a bid to lift the League Cup for the first time.
The Perth club have twice reached the Final, in 1969 and 1998, but both times were beaten, by Celtic and Rangers respectively.
In their attempt to make it third-time lucky they will come up against the winners of the second semi-final between Livingston and St Mirren today.
And based on the clinical display Callum Davidson’s men produced last night, whoever they face will have their work cut out for them.
For as the victorious manager admitted, with Rangers and Celtic both out of the picture, he and his team are eyeing the chance to make Saints history.
“We’ve put ourselves in the position now where we’ve got an opportunity, as you say the Old Firm aren’t there,” he said.
“They’ve dominated for years
– so when these chances come I think you’ve got to try to take it.
“I said that to the players today – and I thought they did.”
Unsurprisingly, given the importance of the occasion, both teams were a bit frantic in the opening exchanges.
Hibs, playing a fluid system which had Martin Boyle, Kevin Nisbet and Jamie Murphy interchanging up front, soon settled into their passing game and created a flurry of decent opportunities.
An acrobatic volley from
Paul Hanlon had Zander Clark scrambling to save across his body following a corner on the left.
A couple of minutes later the Saints keeper was at it again, blocking Murphy’s low shot with his ankle.
When the rebound returned straight to the forward, Clark’s heart must have been in his mouth.
Flat out, on the ground, he could only look up and on as Murphy’s effort sailed over him. But fortune was with him as the ball struck the crossbar.
With Jackson Irvine striking the outside of the post with a header from a clever first-time cross from Hanlon, it began to look just a matter of time before the Edinburgh side made their dominance pay off.
Instead, it was Saints who seized the lead with a goal that was as straightforward as they come.
David Wotherspoon whipped an inviting corner in from the left; Jason Kerr got the jump on Ryan Porteous, and powered a header into the back of the net.
It was an impressive effort and it helped the match as a spectacle.
Hibs were forced to redouble their efforts to breach Saints’ backline, noticeably upping their tempo.
Saints, for their part, were clearly encouraged by their breakthrough on what had only been their first corner and only their second attempt on goal.
With space opening up, they pushed forward with more conviction and quickly doubled their advantage.
Again, their score came from a set-piece and was as simple as they come.
Craig Conway, fouled in the middle of the Hibs half, took the free kick himself and sent a lovely ball into the box.
This time the recipient was Shaun Rooney with the 24-yearold midfielder producing another stunning header to beat Ofir Marciano in the Hibs goal all ends up.
Two then became three and – again – there was little Marciano could do about it.
Rooney, who had a stormer of a night, blazed past Murphy and cut the ball right across the goal to the back post where Conway was on hand to prod the ball over the line.
After the agony of losing the held-back Scottish Cup semi-final to their age-old rivals Hearts, it was another gut-punch disappointment for Hibs in a campaign that had promised so much.
“For me, it’s the anger at how we performed in the majority of the second half,” said Jack Ross.
“We were trying to get to a final and then you saw the response at conceding the second goal.
“We had a good first half and we should have had a better response in trying to get back in to the game.
“The reaction to adversity after conceding the second goal is not good enough.
“You have to have courage and character to keep ploughing through trying situations.
“But we became ill-disciplined in large aspects of our play.
“That’s not good enough.”