New dad Paul Hanlon ready to help deliver win for Hibs

Paul Hanlon is eager to play his part against Hamilton. Picture: SNS

Having not got home until the early hours of that morning, the Hibs defender knew he was in no fit state to travel to Rugby Park for a game kicking off at lunchtime.

Instead, he was back at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at the bedside of his wife  Danielle and the new arrival, a son for whom they have yet to decide upon a name, and finding his attempts to keep up with events in Ayrshire  stymied by a poor mobile phone signal in the hospital.

Mum, son and proud dad are home together now but, admitted Hanlon, he’s quickly learning just what having a newborn baby in the house means.

He said: “The last couple of nights have seen plenty of broken sleep – not what I’m used to. But it’s all been worth it. He’s my first baby and it’s all gone well after a tough time with the labour.

“He arrived Friday night but doesn’t have a name yet but hopefully we’ll get that sorted in the next couple of days. Danielle had quite a long labour, starting about half-past four on Thursday afternoon and finishing on Friday night.

“There was no sleep at all or eating during that time, just grinding through with her. I didn’t get back in the house until around 1:30am on Saturday so when it came to an early kick-off against Kilmarnock I wouldn’t have been in any fit state to play.

“I tried to leave it as late as possible, but I had to text the physio to say there’s no way I could do it, especially getting through to Kilmarnock. You don’t want to let anyone down.

“I never even watched the game. I was in the post-natal ward with her and the wee man all day. I was trying to keep an eye on it, but the signal in the hospital wasn’t great. I was struggling to keep up with the scores – there was me  never off my phone and she’s in pain and can’t get out of her bed…

“But we get an email at night with the extended highlights from the club so I caught up with it then although I knew how the game had gone as my dad had told me about it when he and my mum came up to visit. Danielle and the baby got home on Sunday night. He is fine and she is recovering well so all is good. I was just glad to have them home.

“I was back in training on Monday and the manager was congratulating me and asking me all about it – although I haven’t asked for my two weeks’ paternity leave yet!

“By all accounts, speaking to the lads, we did not play as well as we could have and, having had a two-goal lead, you are disappointed not to have taken all three points. Hopefully, though, we can look back at the end of the season and say it was a good point.”

The draw with Killie did pull Hibs slightly closer to third-placed Aberdeen and just that little bit further away from capital rivals Hearts and Hanlon insists he and his team-mates have their eyes firmly fixed on those sides ahead of them rather than looking over their shoulders. He said: “Chipping away at Aberdeen and Rangers has to be the aim. There is no point looking behind you. We need to look above us. We have a good run of fixtures coming up before the split, they are coming thick and fast and we are coming into the final stretch of the season. Once the split comes, we are all playing each other and you have a chance to push on – I don’t see any reason why we can’t.”

Tonight’s visit from Hamilton gives Neil Lennon’s players another opportunity to maintain the impressive league form they have shown since the winter break but, conceded Hanlon, Accies have proved to be something of a bogey side for Hibs this season, winning 3-1 at Easter Road and then coming from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw at their own ground.

Martin Canning’s outfit will also be buoyed by the way in which they ended a run of five straight defeats with a last-minute winner, courtesy of former Hearts winger David Templeton, against Partick Thistle at the weekend.

Hanlon said: “Hopefully, I’m back in for this one and can kick on for the rest of the season. Hamilton beat us earlier in the season, we had a terrible second half, but away from home we played really well. They only had one shot on target and scored it so we deserved to win that game. Hopefully, we can put that right tonight.”