Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 - 0 Hibernian: Inverness finish in style

IF THIS is to be the prelude to a glorious date with destiny for Hibernian, no Easter Road regulars will care that it was a hopelessly unsatisfying last fling of the season in the SPL.

Scorers: Inverness CT - Tansey (62), Hayes (pen 71)

Bookings: Hibernian - Francomb, Stephens

Attendance: 4,457

How could the comparatively meagre target of tenth place in the SPL ignite passions, even with places still up for grabs at that Hampden Park showpiece?

Pat Fenlon’s greatly-revamped side gave him few selection headaches for the Hearts match as dead ball finishes from Greg Tansey and Jonny Hayes consigned them to a very poor 11th-place finish.

George Francomb, the on-loan 20-year-old from Norwich City, was one with a shout at forwarding his case as Fenlon understandably made eight changes.

He summed up the pre and post-match mood in the Hibs camp: “Everyone wanted to impress, but this game had an end-of-season feel after putting the relegation issue to bed but there were places to play for,” Francomb said.

“Everyone was trying really hard to get in that team but it wasn’t a great performance.

“There is obviously a huge amount of hype about next weekend but we’re off to Dublin tomorrow for a few days to get away from it all. We’ll concentrate and get a bit of team morale building. We can’t wait.

“After the Dunfermline result, the excitement started kicking in and tomorrow it will really start to build.”

The first all-Edinburgh meeting in the national showpiece since 1896 was always going to overshadow the tussle at the Caledonian Stadium.

Only Garry O’Connor, Matt Doherty and Tom Soares were retained from the side that emphatically sank Dunfermline to the First Division on Monday night.

Young goalkeeper Paul Grant was given the nod for his competitive debut.

For Inverness, the final flourish in a frustrating campaign at least secured an extra £80,000 in income from their tenth-place finish.

Andrew Shinnie, starting his second match since returning from long-term injury, stubbed an early free-kick opportunity harmlessly into Hibs’ wall.

Nothing could disguise the low-key feel to the occasion, although Hibs almost mustered something of worth after 19 minutes when Ivan Sproule collected a slack Kenny Gillet pass in midfield. Sproule accelerated down the left and his flighted ball was making for the prowling O’Connor, only for Tokely to step in with a timely intervention.

Hibs finally threatened again after 34 minutes. The ball broke to Francomb outside the area and he connected superbly with a low-strike that Ryan Esson dived to tip wide.

Hayes and the two Shinnie brothers were doing their best to inject something meaningful.

Graeme Shinnie’s forays on the left were promising while brother Andrew wasn’t scared to try and dig where others hesitated. One of his efforts after 37 minutes dipped just over the bar from outside the box.

Cup final plans were to the fore at the break as Fenlon hauled off O’Connor in a straight swap for Leigh Griffiths. The game was soon sinking into torpor, though, with neither team able to muster anything coherent.

When Frenchman Gillet cracked a long-range shot over the bar just before the hour it spoke more of frustration than anything else.

Finally, though, came a moment to light up the occasion.