Shinnie keep celebrations on hold for his brother

Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie admits his Hampden joy was tempered by brotherly concern.

Shinnie helped the Dons set up a William Hill Scottish Cup final meeting against Celtic thanks to a 3-2 victory over Hibernian on Saturday, but he toned down his post-match celebrations out of respect for his brother, Andrew, who came off the bench for Hibs.

It was the first time the former Inverness team-mates had faced each other in a competitive match and the stakes could not have been higher.

"We've got a bit of respect there that I will comfort him," the Aberdeen player said. "He will obviously be hurting because they have been knocked out. So I will keep the celebrations on hold.

"We have supported each other in our careers since we started. We have never really had an experience like this before.

"He will be disappointed that they have lost but now he will be hoping that we obviously go on and lift the cup.

"I saw him a little bit after the game at the final whistle and he congratulated me, but we didn't properly speak. But I saw him afterwards and we had a chat about it."

It could easily have been the elder Shinnie who was celebrating after a dramatic encounter that saw Hibs bounce back from two down before Jonny Hayes' deflected strike earned Aberdeen the winner with five minutes remaining.

Even then there was a scare for the Dons when Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano went up for a last-gasp corner and forced a good save from Joe Lewis.

Graeme Shinnie said: We made it hard for ourselves with the start we had. But it shows the character that the team's got. I'm sure we would have definitely been questioned at the time when they came back to two-all.

"But the boys always had it in them and always had the belief that they could go on to win it.

"Our bottle and everything else would probably have been in question and we answered up.

"When you're 2-0 up and a team comes back to two-all everyone just expects the team with the momentum to go on and win it. We dug in, luckily we got the goal, albeit through a deflection but we will take it.

"They were just launching balls into the box and we did well to defend it. I would have been devastated if the keeper had scored at the end but it was a good save from Joe."

Aberdeen have the chance to atone for a disappointing Betfred Cup final display against Celtic when they face Brendan Rodgers' treble-chasers again at Hampden on May 27.

But they first have to make sure they seal runners-up spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership. They are nine points ahead of Rangers with St Johnstone to face at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Shinnie said: "We need to put this on the back-burner now because we have a lot of big games coming up in the league and we're looking to cement second spot as quickly as we can.

"We had a good win last week in the league against St Johnstone, that was probably one of the biggest wins of the season after the Rangers game, and we have carried it on.

"It was scrappy, it was hard work at times, and I don't think we played to our full potential. But winning and getting through to the cup final was the main thing."