Griffiths hopes for ‘proudest day of his life’

CONTROVERSIAL Hibs forward Leigh Griffiths hopes to complete a remarkable journey from villain to hero against Hearts, insisting a goal in the Scottish Cup final would be the proudest moment of his life.

The Scotland under-21 striker has endured a chequered campaign at Easter Road, having joined the club on loan from Wolves in August.

With 11 goals this season, including the late winner in last month’s semi-final triumph over Aberdeen, the nippy front-man has been a bright spark in what has been a turgid campaign for the Hibees at times. However, his undoubted talent has been sabotaged by a fiery temper during an eventful spell with his boyhood heroes.

Griffiths has served three separate bans for remarkably similar abusive gestures towards supporters, prompting a warning from manager Pat Fenlon. He appeared remorseful later, in a sombre apology on the club’s own online TV channel, during which he described his actions as “sheer stupidity.” Griffiths hopes the ignominy of those incidents will be forgotten at Hampden as he seeks to live the dream of every Hibs fan and become a legend in Leith.

The 21-year-old said: “I missed the birth of my two kids, I was down at Wolves, so this win would be the proudest moment of my life. If I can score the winner, or play any part in the goal that wins the game, it would be incredible. We’ll try to do what we did against Aberdeen and sneak an early goal, but we know anything can happen in football – just look at the way Manchester City won the title on Sunday. We will do our best and hopefully it is enough on the day.”

Hibs spent the early part of this week in the leafy suburbs of Dublin to prepare, and after returning to Edinburgh, Griffiths said: “It was good to get away. We knew what Edinburgh was going to be like with the final coming up. To get some sessions with no press or anyone on our backs was good. I don’t play golf so the rest of the time was spent putting my feet up and resting for Saturday.”

Taken from the Scotsman