The four year anniversary of Hibs' triumphant Scottish Cup victory over Rangers comes this week, with Leith locals undoubtedly ready to toast their success despite lockdown restrictions.

A monumental final filled with drama throughout the 90 minutes. When delight turned to despair, back to delirium. It had been 114 long, frustrating years since Hibs had last lifted the trophy when David Gray's header nestled into the corner of Wes Foderingham's net. Alan Stubbs had guided his side to one of the most famous results in the club's history. 

Contrastingly, just four years earlier, Irishman Pat Fenlon had led his side to, arguably, their most infamous.

May 19, 2012 will live long in the memory of Hibees everywhere, but for all the wrong reasons. Defeat to a rival is tough to accept in any circumstance. To lose 5-1 in a cup final is almost inconceivable. For Fenlon and his charges, however, it became a grim reality when Rudi Skacel struck on 75 minutes to scribble a full stop on the mauling.

Eight years on from that harsh lesson and Fenlon still wishes he had swapped a name or two round on his team sheet. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, eventual red-card sinner Pa Kujabi was probably the wrong call. Should Eoin Doyle have started ahead of Garry O'Connor? Ivan Sproule in front of Jorge Claros?

It doesn't matter much now, with the result etched in the history books. Fenlon simply wishes he could have put a smile on supporters faces that afternoon. Hibs fans' faces, that is. "I loved it at Hibs," he told Herald and Times Sport. "I got the chance to manage one of the top five clubs in Scotland, which doesn't happen to a lot of people. I had some great high points and some low points as well but it's a great club.

"People will bring up some results against Hearts and Malmo and that's fine, but I think in general, when I went in they were 11th and I left them in 5th. I was happy that I left them in a better position than when I got there.

"You have to take it on the chin, I've said on numerous occasions before, the result was on me. I got it wrong on cup final day. You have to try and learn from that and rectify it if you're ever in the same position again.

"The thing that disappointed me most was to see the disappointment on fans faces when you're turned over by your biggest rivals, then losing to Celtic the next year. They get up for it thinking, 'This is the year', then it's taken away from them.

"The games were tight in the league and maybe Hearts had a run on us at the time. Hearts had a big, expensive squad at the time, but we just didn't perform on the day and I got the team wrong. That's the bit as a manager that frustrates, you've made the decisions that have cost the club the trophy.

"The sending off didn't help, but when you lose 5-1 you've got to look yourself in the mirror and take responsibility. If I was picking the team now I would've picked a different team! One or two players maybe should have played who didn't. But you can't dwell too much on these things, you have to move on."

If Fenlon was part of the Hibs staff when they suffered through one of their worst matches in recent years, he was also part of the management team when they rescued themselves against Falkirk in the semi-final a year later - in one of their best and most memorable games.

Incredibly 3-0 down to the Bairns at half-time, Fenlon masterminded an astonishing 4-3 win and a place in another Scottish Cup final, this time against Celtic. The boss admits the dressing room at the break was not the most positive atmosphere, but the players rallied - following some stern words amongst themselves - to make the comeback.

He added: "People forget the two incredible days at Hampden with the two semi-finals. One of arguably the greatest semi-finals ever against Falkirk. In that game, you have a game plan and go in at half-time so far behind, there was a lot of stuff going on in the dressing room. I took a backwards step and had things that I maybe wanted to say. But people wanted to air their frustrations and they stepped in.

"Most teams I've managed, I've tried to have big characters in there. I think a manager has to take control of the team but players have to manage themselves. I like having people around who have an opinion, I think it's important. At the end of the day mine is the only one that matters when it comes to decisions. But if people are out on the pitch, you've got to give them their chance and they took it that day."