Hibernian striker Leigh Griffiths spoke about making amends for last season’s “humiliating” 5-1 Scottish Cup final defeat to Hearts after notching a hat-trick in the 4-2 win at Kilmarnock.
Hibs were thrashed by their Edinburgh rivals in the showpiece occasion which compounded painfully the fact they have not won the tournament since 1902.
However, Griffiths (22) almost single-handedly took the Easter Road side through a pulsating quarter-final encounter at Rugby Park by taking his tally to 22 for the season.
The striker, who is on loan from Wolves, said: “It is not just me who is the Hibs fan Paul Hanlon is as well and we know what it means to the Hibs fans to win the cup.
“We have the chance to rectify that now. If we get through the semi-final then hopefully we can go one step further.
“The gaffer spoke to us after the game on Wednesday to tell us how important this game was going to be and to get back to Hampden. Last year we said ‘is it going to be this year and what better way to do it than against Hearts’ and we got absolutely humiliated.”
In a pulsating match, Griffiths opened the scoring on 15 minutes only to have it cancelled out by James Dayton.
Matt Done restored Hibs’ lead on 39 minutes before Paul Heffernan slammed in a penalty after the break to level again.
However, Griffiths scored two more, the second from the spot.
Killie ended the match with 10 men after defender Ross Barbour was sent off late on for a tug on the former Livingston and Dundee player on the edge of the box.