Ginnelly insists he’s prepared for anything
A MAN down after 54 seconds, struck in the head by a bottle lobbed from the stands, but come full-time Josh Ginnelly was a winner.
It would be understandable if the Hearts winger is relaxed ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Cup final against Rangers having endured one of the most difficult afternoon’s in a major final down south.
Ginnelly, then 21, was part of a winning Tranmere side at Wembley to secure play-off promotion to the Football League despite a nightmare start and a horror incident off the pitch.
Liam Ridehalgh was sent off within a minute after a wild challenge making it an uphill battle for Tranmere. Ginnelly was then struck by a bottle hurled from the stands when celebrating with his teammates in the first-half. The winger player on briefly, but was then forced off after feeling dizzy as a result. However, his team-mates battled on to victory against all odds.
“We had a man sent off 54 seconds into the game, Liam Ridehalgh who is at Bradford City now. It was an interesting game,” said Ginnelly of the final in 2018. “It was a weird day. I got bottled. Somebody threw something out of the crowd and it hit me on the back of the head.
“It was crazy. I ended up coming off. I went dizzy. My head was pounding. It hit me on a sweet spot on my head and I went down. I got back up and back on the pitch and everything was blurry.
“It was a full beer bottle but it felt like a glass. It was a rollercoaster of emotions but we got over the line.
“I think we made three substitutions in 35 minutes. It was a crazy day, the odds were all against us but we scored a late goal and we got over the line.
“They never caught the person who threw the bottle. I heard nothing back. To this day I don’t know who threw it but it was some throw, to come all that way and hit me on the back of the head.
“I could have gone to the hospital but I didn’t want to miss out on a day like that. We had a good couple of days and I would
rather take that than go to the hospital.”
On that day Ginnelly just felt the trophy was Tranmere’s, and while he’s already tasted success with Hearts in lifting the Championship – he’s desperate to spark wild celebrations with the fans at Hampden.
“It just shows you that sometimes it can just be your day. There was just this weird feeling around the stadium that we were going to do it.
“Having experienced that winning feeling I’d love to experience it again with Hearts.
“We won the Championship but we did not celebrate that. I’m sure if we win this cup Edinburgh will go crazy for a few days. That’s what we are looking to do.”
Ginnelly’s memories of his Tranmere triumph remain fondly in his mind, but he’s admitted nothing in his footballing career would come close to a Cup win with Hearts.
Asked if anything would compare to a Scottish Cup win at Hampden, he said: “Not really, no. I’ve been part of some trophywinning games and they were all great days but this would be, without a doubt, the biggest achievement of my career. I really want to win.
“It definitely feels more real this time. Everybody wants that starting place and with all the fans in, you want to step out on to that pitch. Everybody has come across at least a couple of fans and they are all telling us to go and win the game. We’ll need them to come in their numbers and help us get over the line.”