Cammy Devlin opens up on highly-charged Hearts-Hibs cameo - 'that was unreal'

Cammy Devlin says he is “still buzzing” from the highs of last weekend, when Hearts booked a Scottish Cup final berth and a prolonged run in Europe, and no-one who witnessed his late contribution to that Hampden win over Hibs or saw him pumped up and celebrating afterwards would doubt that.

Cammy Devlin leads the Hearts celebration after beating Hibs at Hampden.

That highly-charged cameo – he came on for the final three minutes of regulation time and the eight minutes added on thereafter – was the Australian midfielder’s first action since the 2-2 draw against Dundee United at the beginning of March and he savoured every second. But he says he has taken some stick for clocking up more time interacting with the fans after the whistle than he did contributing to the result.

“Yeah, you are probably right and the boys have been on me about that!" said Devlin. “But they are part of the reason – a massive part of the reason – we are doing so well this season. They turn up whether we are at Tynecastle or away, and at Hampden we sold out our allocation and our seats were full, whereas the opposition’s weren’t.

“Having fun out there is my favourite thing to do so getting back out there and getting some minutes at the weekend was unreal and winning a cup semi final is so special, especially against our rivals. That was unreal. It was great to be back out there.”

But, with league ambitions realised and so much focus the May 21 showdown with Rangers, Devlin does not want anyone at Hearts resting on their laurels in the five games leading up to that finale, starting against Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

“It’s important that everyone who is fit plays,” continued Devlin. “If you are carrying a niggle that does need resting then you are going to rest it but we have a cup final in a month's time so if we take these five games lightly then that isn’t going to stand us in good stead. We want to have good momentum..

“We have Rangers in the final so if players have missed two or three games that they maybe could’ve played in, that’s not going to help.”

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