Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, The Archies were at No1 with Sugar, Sugar and Willie Ormond was manager at old Muirton Park on the last occasion that St Johnstone reached a Hampden final over 51 years ago. 

So it is fair to say this was a pretty momentous victory for the Perth club.

They have made it through to the denouement of the League Cup twice as well as the climax of Scottish Cup once during their 137 year existence.

But only one of those games was staged at the national stadium – they lost 1-0 to Celtic at the Mount Florida venue in front of a crowd of 73,067 way back in 1969.

There will be no fans inside Hampden when they take on either Livingston or St Mirren, who do battle tomorrow evening, next month due to the coronavirus pandemic. But Callum Davidson and his players will be entitled to enjoy the occasion after this assured display and emphatic triumph.

If St Johnstone can perform as well as they did for the final hour tonight they have a very good chance of lifting what would be only the second piece of major silverware in their history. 

Jason Kerr and his team mates rode their luck during the opening 30 minutes. Zander Clark came to their rescue with excellent saves from first Paul Hanlon and then Jamie Murphy. Hibernian also struck the woodwork on two occasions. But if you don’t take your chances you don’t win games.

Hibs’ lack of ruthlessness in the final third came back to haunt them. Kerr headed home a David Wotherspoon corner with virtually their first attack of the match. 

But the McDiarmid Park outfit, who topped their group and then beat Motherwell and Dunfermline in the knockout rounds to reach the semi-final, were by far the better team in the second-half. Shaun Rooney and Craig Conway had put them 3-0 ahead after 63 minutes. They could have won by an even greater margin.

Jack Ross’s side were unfortunate to lose the rescheduled Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts after extra-time back in October. But they could have no complaints here. Their inability to defend set pieces – they conceded the second at a free-kick - cost them dear.

“We work on set pieces every Friday in training - and none of it ever goes right!” said Rooney afterwards. “This time it worked and we can thank Macca [coach Stevie MacLean] for that.”

Ofir Marciano made his comeback from injury in goals for Hibs after a month out as Arsenal loanee Matt Macey dropped to the bench. But it was his opposite number Clark who was the far busier keeper after the game got underway.

Clark produced two important saves to keep his side level as the capital club dominated the early exchanges. He palmed a Hanlon volley wide after the defender had got on the end of a Martin Boyle corner and then denied Jamie Murphy with his outstretched legs shortly after.

The ball broke straight to the Rangers forward and he should really have netted the rebound. But his chip struck the crossbar and was cleared to safety by Liam Gordon.

The woodwork came to the rescue of St Johnstone again on the half hour mark when Hanlon picked out new signing Jackson Irvine unmarked inside their area. The midfielder’s header skimmed the outside of the left post. It looked like only a matter of time before Hibs forged in front.

They were made to rue their missed opportunities after Davidson’s charges won their first corner of the game in the 35th minute. Kerr did superbly to outjump Ryan Porteous and nod a Wotherspoon delivery into the top right corner. 

St Johnstone forged further in front four minutes into the second-half when Conway floated a free-kick into the Hibs penalty box and Rooney leapt above his markers and headed powerfully beyond Marciano.

Scorer turned provider and provider turned scorer 14 minutes later. Rooney squared across the six yard box and Conway stole in front of Paul McGinn and turned in from close range.

Marciano tried desperately to swat the ball clear. But goal line technology was in use in this match so his efforts were futile. It was that kind of evening for the Easter Road club. 

There was a welcome return to the Hibs squad for Scott Allan, who has spent the past four months dealing with a medical issue, and he came on for Josh Doig with his side 3-0 down. 

Ross also threw on Christian Doidge and Kyle Magennis. But the replacements made little difference. Clark was untroubled in the second 45 minutes.

Rooney, the former Inverness Caledonian Thistle defender who only joined St Johnstone in the summer, was a deserved recipient of the Man of the Match award at the end of the game. He is understandably optimistic about their prospects after such a convincing win.

“It’s massive,” he said. “Everyone is buzzing. We just have to take it one game at a time. We have Aberdeen on Wednesday and we need to go again. But we can win it,” he said. “We have to believe we can do it. There’s no point in playing in these competitions if you do not think you can go on and win them.”