Dundee United skipper Sean Dillon insists he is thrilled to see old pal Jon Daly dazzling for Rangers but he is on a mission to have the last laugh on him in this weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final clash at Ibrox.
Dillon is a big fan of his fellow Dubliner, who still lives just round the corner from him in Longforgan.
The pair are squaring up to go head-to-head in Govan on Saturday after starring alongside each other at the Tangerines for years, and it is an encounter Dillon is relishing.
Away from the nitty gritty of the football pitch, Dillon and Daly like to spend time in each other’s company but will put all friendship aside as the rival sides bid to seal a place in the final.
Dillon, who is sure United can pick themselves up from Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of champions Celtic, wants to be the one still smiling come the end of their last-four showdown with Ally McCoist’s men.
Dillon said: “Jon’s a good player, a really good player. He’s a strong boy but he can shift as well. He has good feet. No negatives on Jon.
“He is a good team player I couldn’t knock him in any way. Obviously, I am delighted he is doing well and I hope he continues to do well apart from on Saturday.
“You have the craic and you have the chat about it but it is the same with Willo (Flood) when we get chatting the last thing you want to do is to be talking about football.
“You have the kids running around and you want to chat about something else. Hopefully, he will be the one going home disappointed after the game but we’ll see.
“We live close to each other but it is not as if we go into each others’ homes all the time. We get on well and the fact that we live so close which is obviously nice back home in Dublin we lived quite close together.
“His family home and mine and Willo’s are within 15 minutes of each other. It’s been great since I have been over to have the lads live beside me.
“Obviously, it is a little bit different now, naturally you are not going to see as much of the boys because you’re not travelling together every day but it’s great having them around.
“Jon is a great fella, a great player. Hopefully we will do the business on Saturday, though.
“We live in Inchture, just past Longforgan. We moved in the first pre-season we had in 2007 and Willo moved in not long after that and obviously had a couple of stints away.
“We all enjoy the area. Gavin Gunning lives there as well. It is nice having everybody together, the kids know each other and the girls get on, too.
“It’s nice but you go to work on a Saturday and do your thing and we’ll obviously have the craic afterwards and hopefully I will be having the best of that craic afterwards.”
United manager Jackie McNamara ensured they fielded an almost full-strength side despite their looming semi-final but even though they welcomed back striker Nadir Ciftci and full-back Andy Robertson from suspension, it was nowhere near enough to halt relentless Celtic who raced into a 2-0 lead within 25 minutes and rarely looked like suffering what would have only been their second league defeat of the entire campaign.
The visitors’ first goal after just five minutes could have been prevented as Kris Commons clipped over a free-kick which saw Georgios Samaras get the better of Gunning and hook his 12-yard effort outwith the reach of United keeper Radoslaw Cierzniak.
Celtic were in the mood and it was hardly surprising when they went further ahead in style in 25 minutes.
McNamara’s men lived to rue that flat first-half performance but Dillon was adamant it was not caused by looking ahead to their cup tie with Rangers.
He said: “We like to press teams and we like to pass the ball and keep it well. And we didn’t do that in the first half and Celtic did. That’s probably why we were 2-0 down at half -time.
“But we did it in the second-half and obviously enjoyed the game a lot more than what we did before. I thought we were far better second half.
“It was disappointing not to win the game and to lose. But at the same time at least we got a reaction at half-time. For me there certainly hasn’t been any talk about it the semi-final.
“From my point of view, there’s genuinely nothing at all. You saw the way the lads were in terms of making tackles.
“If we had been thinking about it then a couple of the tackles probably wouldn’t have been made.
“Personally, and looking at it from the group, I don’t think the semi-final was an issue at all. When you are playing any team, let alone Celtic, you can’t be thinking of anything else other than the job in hand.
“Maybe others on the outside will look on it, especially our first half, and believe it was a factor. But I don’t personally think it was.”
United’s aspirations to secure second spot in the table are now slim sitting six points behind second-top Aberdeen.
Dillon thinks a pathway into Europe is far more likely courtesy of the cup. United are striving to repeat their heroics of 2010 when they thumped Ross County 3-0 in the final at Hampden.
Defender Dillon is confident youngsters like Ryan Gauld, John Souttar and Andy Robertson, who have all lit up the Premiership this season, will rise to the occasion at Ibrox.
Dillon said: “If somebody said to you that you have to win two games to get into Europe then it would be easier than trying to catch up in the league with the points tally.
“The cup is in your hands I suppose the league is a little bit but you are relying on teams ahead of us to drop points.”