‘Enormity of derby clash won’t sink in for a while’
The teams will meet in the final on 19 May at Hampden for the first time since 1896 after Hearts followed Hibs’ win over Aberdeen with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Celtic yesterday.
To further increase the magnitude of the occasion, Hibs are looking for their first Scottish Cup win for 110 years and MacDonald feels a derby final is a huge event for the Scottish capital.
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Hide Ad“I don’t think words can describe it,” he said. “I’m just absolutely delighted we’ve got a Scottish Cup final to look forward to, especially against our local rivals as well. I’m sure it will be a fantastic day. I don’t think we will realise the meaning of it until probably the week before in the build-up to the final.
“I’m sure Edinburgh will be absolutely buzzing. It’s great for the city that Hibs and Hearts have finally got there to play each other and it should be a fantastic day.”
MacDonald was one of his team’s most impressive performers as they stepped up the pace after a quiet first half. MacDonald said: “I thought we defended unbelievably well in the first half. We tried to play on the counter and it didn’t really work. In the second half we went for it a bit more and the game opened right up. I think the second half was probably a fantastic game to watch.”
He added: “The way we performed in the second half I think it would have been very unfortunate if they had gone on and won it. We played excellent in the second half and I had faith in us. I maybe thought we would have to play extra-time but to go up the park and get the penalty and score again was excellent and we managed to hold on.”