Back to reality
What becomes of the broken hearted? They come back next weekend....

Football is a cruel game, and it doesn't get much crueller than Sunday. There was no team more deserving that Hibernian of winning the CIS Cup, having actually made it interesting by eliminating both halves of the Old Firm from it. Hibs were also a fantastic advert for Scottish Football outwith the old firm, taking an astonishing 37,000 to a cup final and all but filling Hampden. Nor will I forget Friday night when it was almost like Saturday Live in the Radio Hibs studio, the difference being that Tom from Saudi, Ken in Calgary and the Australian crowd were actually all in the studio. Awesome.

If only for the sight and sound of all those people, Sunday will live with me for a long time as it confirms the potential size of Hibernian football club. My article on Sunday caused a bit of controversy when I noted the prompt exit of a good many: it wasn't intended as a slight, I just wondered how many of those people would be back at Easter Road any time soon. Through Radio Hibs and the Listening Forums I have witnessed the efforts of a lot of people connected with the club, and I felt gutted for them at the final whistle. I also felt gutted for the players, many of whom have grown up as Hibs fans and desperately wanted to win. I haven't even mentioned the ex-pats who came from around the world. It's back to slow progress now after having taken leaps and bounds in the weeks leading up to the cup final.

Riordan loses out on Sunday  (sns)

That having been said, I think Livi deserved to win. Hibs dominated the first half but simply did not take their chances. Livingston did. That's why it can be a cruel game, and when we went 2-0 down, we simply didn't have enough guile to unlock a Livingston back six. Maybe it would have been a different story with Brebner, Murray or Glass in the side, but then again, football can sometimes be about "Ifs". I also won't begrudge a non Old Firm team a trophy (other than Hearts!). After all, Livingston will have a lot of pain to go through as their high earners depart in the summer. I for one wouldn't complain if Stuart Lovell was lifting his next trophy wearing Hibs colours as I considered two of McLeish's biggest mistakes to be (i) letting him go and (ii) dropping him for the Scottish Cup Final. Fernandez is perhaps too much to hope for. There's also the consideration that after the last defeat we had in a cup final, I was in the company of a group of Celtic-supporting friends of mine, and you could see it didn't really mean that much to them. You at least can't say that about Livingston.

Hibs don't rule my life, and I didn't stay too depressed for too long. I simply can't in my job - as the Complainant Aid Officer of a Race Equality Council I have enough to deal with, without dwelling on the result of a game of football. I don't think I need to go into details. I am sure there are similar stories elsewhere too, as we get on with the day-to-day grind that is modern living. I just hope enough people who came on Sunday enjoyed the day out enough to want to do what I do at the weekend and follow Hibs on a regular basis.

Sometimes, the best way to deal with disappointment is to dust yourself off and move on and that appears to be the view from Bobby, who today insisted it was time for Hibs get on with climbing up the table. He told Hibs.net: "We’ve done all that wallowing self-pity stuff over the past couple of days, now we have to move ahead. You have to suffer these defeats to appreciate the victories and we’ve certainly suffered."

Serious catharsis for me would be seeing Hibs stick it right up that bunch of Glory seeking Glaswegians.  Anyway, rant over. With both Doumbe and Murdock suspended, it will be an interesting defensive line-up and maybe Johnathan Baillie will get another chance after doing so well against Celtic the last time. Long-term injury victim Yannick Zambernardi played well to all accounts, and Dobbie continues to look sharp without actually scoring for the under-21's at Easter Road, although they won 4-0 last week away from home, suggesting that like the first team they play better away from home. Even so, I think Dobbie's natural predatory instincts should see him given his chance at first team level: he certainly looked in the mood and perhaps if he had been on earlier...there's that "if" word again...