Although Ballis tries to write about football in an fairly objective way, regular readers of this blog might not be too surprised to hear Ballis was at Hampden for Hibs 5-1 win over Kilmarnock last weekend.

Whenever a cup final comes along there is talk of the emergence of the glory hunter. No doubt this breed of fan exists; the type who only comes out of the shrubbery when the smell of big game and a trophy is in the air.

Having been to most Hibs home games over a period of 15 years or so, Ballis could hardly be accused of being one of these but living abroad he now only makes it to Easter Road two or three times a season.

But there is another type of ‘part-time fan’ who appears at cup finals - the exile. In the Edinburgh hotel where he was staying, Ballis was congratulated for making the long pilgrimage by fans who had made the not too short journey from the Orkney Islands to see the game. Other supporters flew in from the likes of the USA, Canada and Australia.

This is of course, a huge gamble, not to mention expense; when your team might lose at the end of the day. Ballis can recall how bad he felt making the 40-mile journey back to Edinburgh after losing the 2004 final to Livingston. The return journey to Galicia via Madrid would feel a lot longer if defeated again. Easyjet and their courier also managed to lose Ballis’ luggage and he is still waiting for it to be returned. So you have to be dedicated to make this kind of trip. Perhaps he might soon have to employ this fellow Hibs fan to find out where the hell the suitcase has gone...

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Sherlock Holmes, Picardy Place, Edinburgh. (Definitely not working for Easyjet at Edinburgh Airport)

The Ballis’ went through wind and hail and snow to get to Hampden and when they located their seats down the front in Row D they discovered they were still exposed to the elements. Fortunately the snow abated shortly after Rob Jones opened the scoring with a header and by 4.15 pm with Hibs 3-0 up it was pretty clearly that the Ballis’ journey was not in vain. The next hour was the best Ballis has ever experienced in football. All previous disappointments: defeats in the 1993 and 2004 League Cup finals, numerous Scottish Cup semi final travesties, a 22 game run without a derby victory, cup humiliations against Ayr United and Stirling Albion, season 90-91 when Paul Wright finished top scorer with 6 goals and the ignominy of relegation in ’98; none of it matterered as he bounced along to the after-match celebrations that included mass renditions of Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis and numerous Proclaimers’ songs including Sunshine on Leith.

Some fans had clearly indulged in excessive pre-match drinking but it seems the sponsors were watching properly for once as they indentified Lewis Stevenson as MoM. In the first half, Ballis had a good view of the 19-year old left midfielder with the literary sounding name. Stevenson appeared to be the most relaxed player on the pitch right from the off.