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McCourt: We’re aiming for hampden semi-final

PADDY McCOURT won the Co-operative Insurance Cup Player of the Round award for his wonderful display against Falkirk, but the gifted Irish winger will settle for a place in the semi-final this time around.

The Hoops cruised past the Bairns 4-0 at the Westfield Stadium last month and McCourt was the star of the show – scoring a sublime individual goal and running the show from his attacking position.

On Wednesday night, Celtic entertain Hearts at home with a place in the last four up for grabs and securing the Hoops’ passage to Hampden is all that’s on McCourt’s mind.

He said: “It’s always nice to win awards but it was more pleasing to put in a decent team performance, score my first goal for Celtic and get into the next round.

“I was pleased with that game and that performance, but I’m just trying to do my best for the team. We have another tough game against Hearts coming up and hopefully I can play my part in helping us into the semi-final.”

A fringe figure under Gordon Strachan, McCourt has featured more regularly under Tony Mowbray and is content with the progress he is making. His next aim is to nail down a regular place.

He said: “I’ve played more this year than I did last year, so I’m making progress. I’ve had a few starts and came off the bench quite a lot, so things are going well.

“Obviously, everyone would like more starts but I am working towards that just now. I don’t set specific targets. I just want to stay injury-free and play as many games as possible.

“I want to be a regular starter here and rectify the wee problems in my game. If I put it all together and work hard, there’s no reason why I can’t be a regular here.

“I like to attack players, create chances and score goals. I need to brush up on the defensive side of my game, but I’m working hard at that. It’s nothing major but I’ll try to get better.”

McCourt showed his class in the last round