BY KYLE GUNN
“I knew the Cup was ours. I knew it was coming home to Paisley.”
As Danny Lennon recalled the moment that Graham Carey was fouled on the left hand flank of Hampden Park around seven years ago, you could still hear the emotion in his voice.
Carey was hacked down in the dying minutes of St Mirren’s League Cup success in 2013.
And Lennon, talking to Gazette Sport, took a trip down memory lane to a day he’ll never forget.
“I realised we had won the Cup when Graham Carey took the ball for a fantastic run and got fouled," he said. "I knew the cup was ours then.
"Even just before the final whistle, I think, I had asked the fourth official and we were well into the final minute. The free-kick was taken and bang the whistle went.
“As soon as Graham went down, I knew the cup was ours. I knew it was coming home to Paisley.
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"It was an emotion of looking around and taking it in with the supporters. It was a fantastic experience, to see generation upon generation, seeing that, I mean St Mirren don’t win major cups very often.
"To look around the stadium and to take that wee bit of moment and pause, to let it soak in. The reason I did that was because I wanted it to be a memory that I had for the rest of my life.
"I was very, very proud, so I was. When you look back and you look at the first manager in St Mirren’s very proud history to lift the League Cup.
"In the 143-year history, it’s not easily done, you need good people around you. You need good players, you need a good board of directors. Most importantly, you need the fans, who are the most important people at any football club.”
After securing two promotions in a row with Cowdenbeath, the 50-year-old made the step up to top-flight management in 2010, when Gus MacPherson departed the Paisley hot seat after six years.
And over the next four years, Lennon led them to their highest finish of eighth, but he also earned a reputation, along with the academy staff, for continually bringing through youngsters.
And Lennon, now manager of League One outfit Clyde, also looks back on the highs of career and reckons that day is right up there at the top.
He continued: “Winning the League Cup was right up there was right up there with one of my greatest achievements as a manager. I love football deeply and to achieve things in football is a tremendous feeling, not just for yourself, but you feel so pleased for everyone involved in that success.
“That compared to anything else I have experienced in football, I have been very fortunate to have some real highs in my career, and a few spring to mind.
"Such as making my debut for Hibs, winning back-to-back league titles as captain at Partick Thistle, scoring against Bayern Munich at the Olympic Stadium against Oliver Khan for Raith Rovers.
“Then getting back-to-back promotions with Cowdenbeath in my first managerial job, keeping Alloa up, being proud to go and manage Scotland under-21s albeit only for one game and even taking Clyde back to where they are. They are all fantastic experiences and you are looking for that wee piece of history.
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"My vision when I first went into St Mirren was to bridge the gap between the youth set up and the first team we did that. We brought the boys over, the ones we thought we were ready for it, and we gave them a flavour for it.
"Some came over and went back, some came and didn’t go back, because they all develop at different stages. By the time I left St Mirren, in my four years, we had numerous amounts of players, that had came through that youth system.
"John McGinn and Kenny McLean played in that cup final. The club of course was able to make a substantial amount of money and that’s the key thing.
"You only have a wee helping hand, the ones who make these players are the players themselves. When I see these players on Sky Sports, I listen to them intently and I have a smile on my face.”
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