Niall McGinn has warned Celtic that Aberdeen will be hard to beat if the Dons can score the first goal at Hampden.

Aberdeen suffered a 3-0 defeat when the teams met in the Betfred Cup final two years ago and McGinn is hoping for a better start on the same stage on Sunday.

The Pittodrie side got off to a great start in the William Hill Scottish Cup final in the same season when Jonny Hayes netted in the ninth minute but Stuart Armstrong equalised within two minutes and Tom Rogic claimed an injury-time winner for the favourites.

But McGinn has promised Aberdeen will be hard to break down this time.

"If we score first it will be a big incentive and there's not many times in my time we've gone ahead and lost the game," the former Celtic winger told his club's official website.

"We'll need a wee bit of luck at times and will have to defend really well and Joe (Lewis) is probably going to have to pull off a few saves and we'll have to be strong defensively.

"We need to defend from the front right through the midfield and any opportunities that come our way we're going to do our best to take them."

Dons manager Derek McInnes hopes a familiarity with the big occasion can help Aberdeen during their fourth cup final in his tenure.

And McGinn said: "I'm very relaxed and I've been quite fortunate to be involved in a few finals now.

"I think I've started every final we've got to apart from the 3-0 game where I didn't start, which was obviously disappointing.

"Hopefully I've got the opportunity to play on Sunday. We've been used to it for a while getting to semi-finals and finals and it's a great privilege to be part of a team that's getting to cup finals."