As Largs Thistle celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Scottish Cup win, with a charity match at Barrfields on Sunday for prostate cancer, we look back to the famous day on July 15 1994.

Thistle’s Scottish Cup winning captain Jimmy Murray said the club’s famous day at Ibrox was the greatest day of his life, and signing for the Barrfields club was the best decision he ever made.

Despite being sent off in the second half, in a match which had two sendings off for each side, Largs held their nerve to record a fully deserved win.

Jimmy recalled: “Well I think Largs are the only second division team to have ever won the Scottish Cup trophy. I think the team spirit at that time was a crucial factor - there was a lot of experience in that side. Everyone knew each other even before they came to Largs as we had all played against each other so many times “I personally came three months into the season. I was playing with Winton Rovers and having a bit of a hard time. I had captained a few of John Crawford’s teams in the past at the likes of Cumnock so when he came calling, I was relieved to go. However, to drop down a division was a big thing at the time. John had told me that the team had been going through a bad time and had been beaten 10-0 in the Jackie Scarlett Cup by Beith and wanted some stability in the team. I signed for Largs, and it was the best decision I ever made. It was the experience in the squad that helped carry us through.” Being the only second division club to have won Scottish Junior football’s grand prize is something which Jimmy is understandably proud about, as other his fellow players in the side. “We had a few scares along the way right enough. There was fourth round tie against Hall Russell United. Most people know about Largs as a lovely place to play and train in the summer time and in the winter it definitely has a climate all of its own. We were 3-0 up an dcoasting and it was a lovely sunny day and then a blizzard came on and for some reason we totally collapsed and it went to 3-3. Then they scored a fourth but fortunately the offside flag was raised, and we won the replay 3-0. It was at about that time that we were starting to believe. That result put us into the quarter finals.

“People always said we had no chance agains the famous Pollok, and then to go up there and win was incredible. The biggest hurdle for me personally was Kilwinning Rangers in the semi final at Somerset Park. I had spent five years at Kilwinning as a player they were my team it was a big game for me.

“I always remember going to Somerset. We got the bus at Barrfields. It was an old bus and it broke down and we were half an hour late. We were supposed to be in home dressing room and when we arrived to find that Kilwinning had the home dressing room, that got our backs up.

My best friend was Danny Sloan who was the captain of Kilwinning and when we led the team out we were singing the Largs song: “We are the Thistle, we come from the coast...” “You should have seen the faces of Iain Jardine and guys like that who had played at senior level. They were so hyped up and we were so relaxed, and we went and won.” And on to the famous final at Ibrox Park where Largs shocked Glenafton in front of the tv cameras at Ibrox Park.

Jimmy said: “It was the biggest day of my life, to have brothers and sisters and Mums and Dads there, it was something special.

“I remember the goal so well. Dave Elliot was good at running at players and getting the ball wide on the right and beating players. He put a great ball through to McCurdy who was so an experienced finisher and he slotted it home in the bottom corner. Largs had 70 per cent of crowd it was totally great, as all the fans celebrated.” “When I got sent off, we had George Wall, one of the longest serving players to replace me and he was absolutely outstanding as was Barclay Feeney.

“I remember coming home on bus and being absolutely shattered at getting sent off - but everything changed on our return to Largs as the atmosphere was just amazing. I remember being on the open top bus, it was filtering through that there was a big crowd on the streets.

“It was totally amazing. It took us as a club 105 years to win it. The streets were crammed with people, it was amazing.”