Graeme Shinnie: Aberdeen ace will comfort brother Andrew after Scottish Cup exit

Brothers Andrew and Graeme Shinnie clashed in Saturday's Scottish Cup semi-final

Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie admits his Hampden Park joy on Saturday was tempered by brotherly concern.

Shinnie helped the Dons secure a Scottish Cup final against Celtic with a 3-2 victory over holders Hibernian.

But he toned down his post-match celebrations out of respect for his brother, Andrew, who came off the bench for Hibs.

"We've got a bit of respect there that I will comfort him," the Aberdeen player said.

"He will obviously be hurting because they have been knocked out, so I will keep the celebrations on hold.

"We have supported each other in our careers since we started. We have never really had an experience like this before.

"He will be disappointed that they have lost but now he will be hoping that we obviously go on and lift the cup.

"I saw him a little bit after the game at the final whistle and he congratulated me, but we didn't properly speak. I saw him afterwards and we had a chat about it."

'Our bottle would have been questioned'

It could easily have been the elder Shinnie who was celebrating after Hibs staged a dramatic comeback, clawing back a two-goal deficit before Jonny Hayes' deflected strike settled the tie with five minutes remaining.

Even then there was a scare for the Dons when Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano went up for a last-gasp corner and forced a good save from Joe Lewis.

"We made it hard for ourselves with the start we had," Graeme Shinnie added. "But it shows the character that the team's got. I'm sure we would have definitely been questioned at the time when they came back to two-all.

Graeme Shinnie says he'll comfort elder brother Andrew, after Aberdeen knocked Hibernian out of the Scottish Cup

"But the boys always had it in them and always had the belief that they could go on to win it.

"Our bottle and everything else would probably have been in question and we answered up.

"When you're 2-0 up and a team comes back to two-all everyone just expects the team with the momentum to go on and win it. We dug in, luckily we got the goal, albeit through a deflection, but we will take it.

"They were just launching balls into the box and we did well to defend it. I would have been devastated if the keeper had scored at the end but it was a good save from Joe."

'We need to put this on the back-burner now'

Aberdeen have the chance to atone for a disappointing League Cup final display against Celtic when they face Brendan Rodgers' treble-chasers again at Hampden on 27 May.

But Shinnie insists that is not the team's top priority. With a nine-point lead over third-placed Rangers, he says the focus for the Dons is to wrap up second place in the Scottish Premiership over the remaining five league games.

"We need to put this on the back-burner now because we have a lot of big games coming up in the league and we're looking to cement second spot as quickly as we can," he said.

Jonny Hayes' shot deflected off Darren McGregor to clinch a Scottish Cup final berth for Aberdeen

"We had a good win last week in the league against St Johnstone - that was probably one of the biggest wins of the season after the Rangers game - and we have carried it on.

"It was scrappy, it was hard work at times, and I don't think we played to our full potential. But winning and getting through to the cup final was the main thing."