How the Irish fared: Birthday boy Conrad Logan gives Hibs final ticket

Every now and again sport provides a day to savour. For Conrad Logan, that day was Saturday.

Before the weekend the goalkeeper had not played a game since he sustained a serious Achilles injury during a loan spell with Rochdale in December 2014.

In July he was released by Leicester City and the Donegal man was without a club until last month when Hibernian signed him on a short-term contract.

And, with number one keeper Mark Oxley suspended for Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Dundee United, Logan, who turns 30 today, got the perfect birthday present - a first start in 16 months.

It was an opportunity he seized. A host of fine saves thwarted Dundee United and penalties were needed to settle the issue.

Logan stepped up again - saving penalties from Billy McKay and Blair Spittal to secure a 4-2 win in the shootout and a cup final date against Rangers.

Logan was understandably jubilant afterwards.

“It’s like a fairytale and I’m just delighted it went so well,” he said. “I’m very emotional because it’s been so long since I played and to come back and be given the opportunity in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, I feel proud for my family and everyone who has stuck by me.

“When you are sitting in the house for so long watching football matches, you want to be part of it.

“It was my time to go back out and I just enjoyed every minute.”

Logan played down his pre-shootout contribution but said he was confident he would step up once the game went to penalties.

He said: “As a goalkeeper you are there to make saves. If they get through and you get a chance to pull a few off, just come out and be brave and hopefully the ball hits you, and I got lucky.

“I was confident in my ability to save at least one penalty, and to save the first two was obviously a big help.

“I have done well through my career penalty-wise. Before the injury I saved three in three games when I was at Rochdale on loan.

“You can go a long time without saving one but I’ve had a decent enough record and I was quite confident and excited and looking forward to the penalty shootout.” Now he can look to a cup final.

Elsewhere, it was a quiet weekend for the Irish on the goals front with not one of our Championship contingent finding the net.

However, it was a good weekend for full-back Stephen Ward as his Burnley side won 2-1 at Birmingham to leapfrog Chris Hughton’s Brighton – 5-0 winners over Fulham on Friday night – and go second.

Cardiff’s play-off hopes suffered a blow after what manager Russell Slade described as an “incredible” decision not to award a penalty when Anthony Pilkington was wrestled to the ground.

In League One, Shaun Williams was sent off in Millwall’s 2-1 defeat at Coventry while League Two saw Rory Gaffney score in Bristol Rovers’ 2-1 win over Yeovil Town and Jake Mulraney net in Stevenage’s 2-1 triumph over Newport County.