ABERDEEN captain Graeme Shinnie understands that Celtic have an abundance of players who have lifted silverware before in their ranks and appreciates the defending champions will be strong favourites to lift the Scottish Cup next month because of that.
However, the Pittodrie midfielder, who skippered Inverness Caledonian Thistle to victory in the Scottish Gas-sponsored competition back in 2015 when he was just 23, believes there is a great deal to be said for the fearlessness of youth as well.
Shinnie is confident that Jimmy Thelin’s side are capable of pulling off a massive upset and beating Brendan Rodgers’ treble-chasing team when they return to Hampden on May 24 due to the spirited attitude of their talented younger players.
The former Scotland internationalist was impressed with the mental fortitude which Aberdeen showed in their epic semi-final triumph - it took an Oday Dabbagh strike with just two minutes of extra-time remaining for them to clinch a 2-1 victory - over their Premiership opponents Hearts in Glasgow on Saturday.
He believes the likes of Alfie Dorrington, Alex Jensen, Leighton Clarkson, Shayden Morris, Jack Milne and Topi Keskinen, who all featured at the weekend, will not be fazed by facing Celtic in the final.
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“Experience can be overrated sometimes,” he said. “We've got a squad that are hungry to try and lift silverware. We're in a good moment with how we're playing. We got through our bad run and we've started to hit a little bit of form.
“What does experience do? What is it? Sometimes being young and playing with no fear helps. I won this trophy when I was 23 so I wouldn't have been that experienced back then.
“People always talk about experience, but what does it really do in the game? In certain moments, yes, it helps. When you get later into games, you know when maybe not to make a tackle, little things like that, yes. But in the whole, sometimes fearless youngsters are alright as well. But I'll keep them away from me because I'm getting a bit older!”
Shinnie has been on the receiving end of some painful semi-final and final defeats during his career and is keen to help Aberdeen put those disappointments firmly behind them and lift the Scottish Cup for the first time since way back in 1990.
But he is determined to help Aberdeen, who are just three points behind third-placed Hibernian in the Premiership with five matches remaining, to finish as high up the table as possible before the Celtic encounter.
“It has been tough. We had ones in the past where we shoulda, woulda, coulda. There was moments in those games where we coulda maybe won them, but we didn't. But, yes, this is another chance coming around and we want to take it.”
Shinnie continued, “The focus now goes on to the league. We will try to have a strong finish to that and then we'll focus on the final when it comes. It's important now to focus on the league and try and continue a good vein of form and then be in a good moment when the final comes around.
“The first one coming around is Hibs on Saturday. We know we have to win as they're three points ahead of us. So that's a big one right away. Then you deal with each one as they come. But it should be six big games to end the season. It's where we want to be.”
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Meanwhile, Shinnie admitted that Aberdeen had drawn some inspiration from Manchester United’s incredible Europa League quarter-final win over Lyon last week during their tense semi-final showdown with Hearts.
The Old Trafford club scored in the 120th minute and the 121st minute to record a 5-4 victory and a 7-6 aggregate win and book a place in the last four alongside Athletic Club Bilbao.
“I think everyone thought it was going to go into penalties, but we wanted to keep pushing,” he said. “That was the message right from the start. We wanted to keep pushing and go right to the end because you don’t know.
“Look at Man United and see what they've done. So we talked about it - push, push, push right to the end and if it goes to penalties then take care of that as well. I think that showed. We were still attacking. They go down to nine men so we threw everything at it and managed to get the goal.”
