The Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup continued to heat up, as Paul Sheerin, a member of the famous Inverness Caledonian Thistle side that produced one of the all-time Scottish Cup upsets against Celtic back in 2000, conducted the Second Round Draw.

As the Scottish FA marks the 150th anniversary year of the competition, we are celebrating by looking back at some of the fabled stories that have gone by in the competition – with Inverness’ victory over Celtic undoubtedly going down as one of the all-time great Scottish Cup upsets.

Paul joined draw host Gordon Duncan to draw the 20 ties for the Second Round, which will be played on the weekend of Saturday, 28 October and sees teams from SPFL League 2 join the 20 winners from the First Round.

After conducting the draw, Paul shared his memories of the Scottish Cup from on and off the pitch.

Paul Sheerin: “It was nice to be part of the draw given the history of the competition and having played a part in that shock we had in 2000.

“My memories of that game are strong – it’s obviously one that is brought up pretty regularly, although Darvel may take the giant killing title now after last season.

“From my point of view, it was a bonus in building the spirit among a group of players and to have that memory between us all now is excellent.

“It was huge for the local community at the time and the recognition the club got stretched worldwide.

“They were a relatively new club at the time, so it certainly made people stand up and take notice and recognise us as a growing force in the Scottish game.

“Since then, they have been up and down between the Premiership and Championship and they are a club that has sustained a brilliant standard since they came in from the Highland League.

“I think the result helped put the club on the map to an extent but I think the club was always going in that direction.

“We had strong ambitions – obviously they went through a lot with the merger of the two Inverness clubs around the time.

“As a city it helped to become one club – the ambition was to be as strong and successful within the leagues as they could be and I think they have done that over the years.

“I knew the importance of the goal because it gave us a two goal cushion which was massive to try and cause the upset, so I was just pleased when it hit the back of the net.”

After hanging up his boots as a player, Paul nearly enjoyed another giant-killing feat against Celtic as a manager when his Arbroath side held the Glasgow giants to a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park in 2012.

“My memories from that day are that we hung in really. We lost a bad goal to go 1-0 down and then it was a case of hanging on as along as we could. We managed to get a free kick that deflected in and then it was all hands to the pump to keep them at bay.

“For a club of Arbroath’s size it was massive – the replay, the television coverage and the money that came with it was a massive help to the club financially.”

Now assistant manager at Premiership side Kilmarnock, Paul knows full well the importance of a successful run in the fabled competition.

“The manager always emphasises the importance of cup competitions – it’s difficult for most clubs to win the league so the Cup becomes vital.

“The manager stresses every season that we aim to go as far as we can – it would be nice to be back here at Hampden Park towards the end of the season.”

 

Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup Second Round Draw

Beith Juniors v Broomhill

Brechin City v The Spartans

Civil Service Strollers v Stranraer

Cumnock Juniors v Turriff United

Deveronvale v Broxburn Athletic

Dumbarton v Banks O’Dee

Dunbar United v East Fife

Formartine United v Clydebank

Forres Mechanics v Buckie Thistle

Fraserburgh v Bonnyrigg Rose

Huntly v Forfar Athletic

Jeanfield Swifts v Elgin City

Kilwinning Rangers v Cowdenbeath

Luncarty v Bo’ness United

Musselburgh Athletic v Clyde

Peterhead v Clachnacuddin

Pollok v Gala Fairydean Rovers

Stenhousemuir v Brora Rangers

Tranent v East Kilbride

University of Stirling or Albion Rovers v St Andrews United