Helping the Dumfriesshire side into the season's showpiece is unequivocal justification for his season-long loan move. The best bit for him is it's also likely to leave colleagues at Riccarton full of envy.
MacDonald's priority last summer was unc
overing an opportunity to play regular first-team football. Fast forward nine months and he's a national cup finalist. "If you'd said to any of us at the start of the season we would play in the Scottish Cup final we'd have laughed in your face. Nobody expected this," he told the Evening News.
"When I left Hearts I was not expecting to play in a Scottish Cup final. It's just unbelievable. I'm sure a lot of the Hearts boys will be a bit jealous now. It just shows I made the right move going out on loan to get games. You can't beat the experiences I've had with Queen of the South - Scottish Cup semi-final and now final."
Gordon Chisholm's side literally took the you-score-three-we'll-score-four approach on Saturday, and consequently they find themselves in the cup final for the first time in their history.
To compound the misery for a disorderly Aberdeen side, the decisive goal in a truly absorbing game came from John Stewart, the former Pittodrie striker.
Three times Chisholm watched his First Division team take the lead, and each time they were pegged back. When Stewart lashed the fourth goal past Derek Soutar there was fully half an hour remaining, yet Aberdeen had no answer – MacDonald's adept goalkeeping combined with his crossbar and post to preserve Queen of the South's lead.
"I kept thinking, 'right, we're in the lead again so don't concede this time'. Then they'd come back and score and we'd go right up the park and score again," said MacDonald.
"Because it all happened in a 15-minute period, you didn't have time to settle. It was one of those amazing games, crazy. It has to be one of the best cup semis of recent times and it was a great game to be involved in.
"We just kept going and attacking. That's our game. That's why we've done so well since the turn of the year because we've just went for it in every game. I have a great believe in this team. There's good banter and a great laugh but we're all together. We win and lose together, as a team, and that's the secret behind all this."
Many Edinburgh-based viewers would have had a vested interest in the match for reasons other than MacDonald's involvement. Queen of the South's Neil MacFarlane and Stephen Dobbie also have links to capital clubs, whilst Aberdeen fielded three former Tynecastle employees in Alan Maybury, Scott Severin and Lee Miller.
Fans of the Pittodrie side outnumbered their Dumfriesshire counterparts by almost two to one at the national stadium. Supporters had travelled with considerable expectancy, and perhaps this contributed to their side's nervousness throughout.
Steve Tosh, another former Aberdeen player, sprung the day's first surprise by opening the scoring after Derek Soutar failed to collect Ryan McCann's free-kick.
Andrew Considine's header beat MacDonald to restore parity but Queen of the South refused to capitulate, thus the second half began with 15 of the most amazing minutes ever likely to grace the Scottish Cup.
Stewart, a first-half replacement for Dobbie, scampered clear of Zander Diamond down the left flank and crossed towards the unmarked Paul Burns.
The midfielder looks younger in years than some matchday mascots, but he displayed admirable maturity to beat Soutar at the second attempt following Severin's blocking tackle. Four minutes later Aberdeen were level after MacDonald's reaction save from Miller's header fell kindly for Barry Nicholson to convert. Sean O'Connor capitalised on the dithering defending of Considine and Diamond to calmly slot Queen of the South back into the lead, but Considine promptly equalised again with a powerful back-post header.
A minute later, Stewart again exposed the kind of defensive negligence that Jimmy Calderwood abhors. Unmarked at the back post, he took McCann's cross down and drove home what proved to be the winner.
"It was just a great feeling to score the winner at Hampden," he said. "It was the best experience of my career but it didn't prove a point to Aberdeen because Jimmy Calderwood knows what I can do."
Queen of the South rode their luck during the closing stages with Diamond striking MacDonald's bar and post inside a matter of seconds, but the sight of Aberdeen fans hurling scarves on to the Hampden track at full-time told its own story.
Victory also secures Queen of the South's place in next season's UEFA Cup, provided Rangers join them in next month's final.
"The players realised that before Saturday. If Rangers make the final we're guaranteed Europe – another unbelievable achievement," said MacDonald.
"I've still got a year left on my Hearts contract so, as things stand, I'd miss out on that experience. We'll just have to see what happens but I can't complain. The experience I've gained this year has been outstanding.
"A lot of the Hearts boys called me last week, guys like Jason Thomson and Craig Sives who I grew up with. Banksy and Craig Gordon were on the phone too. It was good to hear from Craig, who has played in plenty big games. He's playing in the Premiership but still took the time out to give me advice. He just said to relax and stay focused. I think I'll be giving him a phone before the final."
Queen of the South: MacDonald; McCann (Paton 90), Thomson, Aitken, Harris; Burns, Tosh, MacFarlane, McQuilken; Dobbie (Stewart 42), O'Connor.
Subs: Grindlay, Stewart, O'Neill, Paton, Gilmour.
Aberdeen: Soutar; Maybury (Young 81), Diamond, Considine, McNamara (Mackie 62); Foster, Nicholson, Severin, Aluko; Miller, Maguire.
Subs: Langfield, Mackie, Duff, Touzani, Young.
Attendance: 24,008.
Referee: Kenny Clark.
The full article contains 1037 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
