Paul aiming to make it third-time lucky in the cups with the Hibees
Paul McGinn hopes Hibs can make the leap from a good season to a sensational one.
But he won’t be training on a trampoline!
Another member of his family recently the headlines with an acrobatic jump.
Aston Villa star John McGinn (inset) rescued Scotland with a sensational overhead kick that earned the national team a draw against Austria.
The midfielder joked he was relieved he didn’t break his neck in scoring. But big brother Paul wasn’t surprised by the goal.
He said: “That’s his thing! He used to do it 10-a-penny all the time in the back garden.
“I didn’t think he was as good at it as me, but there you go.
“We had a trampoline out there. Maybe he was on that back in the day.
“But I can’t take credit for teaching him that.
“I was asked what my reaction was when he scored against Austria
– I texted my mates and said: ‘Boom!’.
“That was probably a lot less than the first time he scored.
“I remember our brother, Stephen, scoring for St Mirren against Celtic, and almost being amazed that sort of thing happened.
“Maybe now you get used to it, but it’s always special for your country.
“If he can do it this summer at the Euros, John would be an absolute legend!
“That would definitely get more of a reaction!”
While John has his adventures with Villa and Scotland, Paul (30) is delighted with the way things are going for him at Hibs.
The Easter Road side still have plenty to play for, and their latest challenge is a Scottish Cup tie at
Queen of the South tomorrow night.
Paul went on: “It’s been a long time since we finished third in the league, so that’s our target now
“We have five big Premiership games, but first it’s this Scottish Cup tie.
“We’re hoping to be right at it. “It could go from a good season to an exceptional one. That would be a great way to end it.
“That’s what we’ll be trying to achieve.”
Hibs have already lost two cup semi-finals during this calendar year – to Hearts in the delayed Scottish Cup game and St Johnstone in the League Cup.
McGinn and his colleagues know those defeats have some fans questioning their big-game mentality.
He said: “I suppose going back to Hampden and putting that to bed would. But look, it’s still two semi-finals.
“We maybe had an off-day, St Johnstone are no mugs, they scored a good header and it’s hard to get back at them once they’re ahead.
“We’re not buying the ‘bottled it’ tag or anything. We’re still a good team.
“We dominated the game until they scored, so we’re not in that frame of mind.
“But we’d love to go back there and get past that stage given we’ve fallen there twice.
“Hopefully we get into a position to put it right and we don’t fall at an earlier hurdle.
“I have watched Queen of the South a few times on the TV, and I have always been impressed.
“The fans would expect us to reach semi-finals as a minimum – unless we got one of the Old Firm away early on. Even then, they’d expect us to give them a good game at least.
“I love that mentality. Maybe you don’t love it as much when you’re getting abuse after being beaten, but it comes with the territory.”