Inverness Caley Thistle defender excited to win chance to play at Hampden
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Wallace Duffy is under no illusions about how big an opportunity Inverness Caledonian Thistle have tonight.
The Caley Jags are potentially 90 minutes away from a trip to Hampden, if they can get past Kilmarnock in tonight’s Scottish Cup quarter final.
ICT’s success in the competition is well-documented, lifting the trophy in 2015, but that was not a one-off trip to the national stadium.
They returned to Hampden for a semi final in 2019 when, as a second-tier team, they lost out to Hearts.
A handful of Inverness players have turned out at the stadium before, but for most of the squad tonight’s match presents an opportunity to break a new barrier in their career.
“It’s huge for the players, for the team – not just football-wise, but financially,” Duffy reasoned.
“It’s a chance to get to Hampden, so this is one of the biggest games we’ll have all season.
“Some of the boys in the team have been there and done it, they’ve won the cup before.
“Younger boys like myself haven’t been to Hampden, so it’s a massive opportunity for us to go and make a name for ourselves. Friday is where it starts.”
Caley Thistle have reason to be confident ahead of tonight’s match.
Despite not yet matching pre-season expectations in the league, Inverness have only lost twice in 2023 – and Kilmarnock have a notoriously bad away record in the Premiership.
ICT can also take confidence from knowing that when the two teams were vying for last season’s Championship, it was the Caley Jags who won three of the four matches, including two on television on a Friday night in the Highland capital.
As far as Duffy is concerned, then, this is the kind of match that will suit him and his teammates – and now they just have to go out and prove as much.
“We’ve been fortunate to get through, we know that, but we have to take advantage,” he explained.
“Livingston gave us a massive boost, and if we can beat them 3–0 I don’t see why we can’t beat anyone else.
“Every team in this competition deserves to be where they are, but we did avoid Celtic and Rangers.
“Regardless of Killie struggling away in the league, it’s a one-off game, so anything can happen. We can’t look at any statistics, we just have to make the most of the opportunity we have.
“They’ve still got a lot of the same players that were in the Championship, so we’ve got nothing to fear – we’ve beaten them three times out of four.
“Usually we get a really good atmosphere on a Friday night, and I always feel like we play better in the big games. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m just hoping that record continues.”
