Paul Quinn could yet end the season with a Premiership winner’s medal, but the Ross County defender reckons nothing could top Sunday’s League Cup final win against Hibernian.
The 30-year-old made the decision to move from title-chasing Aberdeen back to Dingwall for a second spell with the Staggies on January 26.
Under SPFL rules, any player who features in 25% of a club’s matches during a championship-winning season qualifies for a medal.
And Quinn, who made 18 league appearances for the Dons before departing Pittodrie in January, could have another medal in his collection should Derek McInnes’ side pip Celtic for the title.
But the former Motherwell and Cardiff City defender would take far more satisfaction from Sunday’s Hampden success than he would if the Dons go on to claim a first title since 1985.
He joked: “‘I think I would need to stick my old Aberdeen strip on and sneak in at the back for the pictures.
“We were actually saying to David Goodwillie, who was cup-tied at Hampden having been at Aberdeen earlier in the season, that he should get a strip on and come out but he wasn’t having any of it. I played my part in the early Aberdeen campaign. I did my bit while I was there.
“But I moved on for a new chapter and I gave that up.
“Of course, I will take a medal if it happens. I played in that team, home and away against Celtic and I played in the Europa League.
“But this will top it because I have been here in among the players for these last two games of the competition.
“In saying that it would be unbelievable for Aberdeen to go on and do it, so I wish them all the best.”
Quinn was delighted his side managed to deliver the trophy for Roy MacGregor, the Ross County chairman who has ploughed a considerable amount of his own money to help the club reach the top tier of Scottish football.
He added: “Roy walked over to me before the game. He knew I had been struggling with a few injuries and an illness.
“I just said to him: ‘We have got this for you’. That was all I said and then walked away.
“After the game, I said: ‘I told you we had this. Don’t panic.’ He just smiled, being as humble as he is.
“He will let it all settle down. This will obviously be the club’s greatest achievement.
“I can’t really find the words for the people up in Dingwall and the way they look after us.
“It is so personal a club and that is why winning the League Cup means so much to people.
“Sunday will live with us forever, but it is for the supporters, the town and everyone at the club – the kit-lady, the backroom staff, the directors and the chairman.
“That doesn’t happen at Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs and is why Ross County is unique as a football club.”
