Dundee United striker David Goodwillie can go from bad boy to Hampden hero according to the man likely to partner him in attack.
Jon Daly is set to join the Scotland under-21 striker up front for the Tangerines when they take on Ross County.
The Irishman has seen Goodie prosper as a player under the management of first Craig Levein and now Peter Houston.
However, his exploits have made the news pages as well as the sport sections of the newspapers.
Daly is backing Goodwillie who has been linked with a move away from United this summer to turn the focus back to his football and play a starring role in a cup-winning team.
“I think Goodie can go as far as he wants to go,” said Daly. “He is a fantastic player and I think he has the lot.
“It won’t be long before he is in the full Scottish squad and we will see what happens over the summer, whether or not he will still be here. If he is then he can do great things for us in Europe next season.No better place”He still has a bit to go to get where he wants to go so there is no better place to learn his trade than Tannadice. We have a fantastic manager, great coaches and good training facilities at St Andrews.
“It is up to him and the chairman if a bid comes in for him to decide what’s best.
“He has that bit of magic that can unlock defences as he showed in the semi-final against Raith Rovers.
“As long as he keeps himself right off the pitch then everything will look after itself on the pitch.
“There has been a lot of stuff (written) about him off the park and I think a lot of that is because of the reputation he has. He just needs to make sure he gets rid of that bad-boy image.
“He is not a bad lad really he just likes to have a bit of craic, a bit of banter.”
On August 26, 2008, Daly lined up alongside Goodwillie at Cowdenbeath for a CIS Cup second-round tie.
The former had been out of the picture at United after battling against injury, while the latter had yet to turn himself into a first-team candidate.
A Daly hat-trick and Goodwillie double later, the Tangerines had won 5-1 and the pair had earned the praise of Levein.
It seemed then to be a turning point for Daly and now he and his fellow frontman will swap Central Park for Hampden Park.
“I was down the pecking order but I did think that given the opportunity I would take it,” said Daly.
“It was a turning point for me, definitely. Now the two of us have a chance of playing at Hampden. We have scored quite a few goals between us this year and looked good together up there.”Never-say-dieDaly was to have more injury woe, though, when he suffered ligament damage.
His never-say-die attitude got him back in the team before even he had dared dream and the rest is history.
“I was only due to come back in April but returned to the side in November,” he added. “Had I kept to the original schedule my chances of being fit for the final would have been very slim. In fact, I don’t think I would have made it.
“So it has been great for me personally to come back when I did and to do what I have done since.”
Staying cool under the pressure of being favourites will be crucial for United, but Daly believes they will handle the heat at Hampden.
“We have character in this team,” he said. “We were 3-1 down at Ibrox and came back to earn a replay to get Rangers back to Tannadice and won that thanks to David Robertson’s last-minute goal.
“In the semi-final against Raith Rovers, we didn’t play well at the start but Goodie’s goal settled the nerves a bit and we pushed on from there.”
Daly will be well backed by his own folk, who will join the massive tangerine and black army.
“My mum, dad, brother and sister, as well as a few friends, are coming over from Ireland,” he said.
“I think there will be 20 people in total in my group and they will join the rest of the United support.
“We have sold almost 27,000 tickets and that’s brilliant. To have that many travelling down is fantastic and it would be great to win the cup for them.”