He may have been one of the Indomitable Lions but Arnaud Djoum must have been fancying a lie doon. It had been a hectic few days for Heart of Midlothian’s Cameroonian midfielder, after all.

The 27-year-old played his part in his country’s last-gasp African Cup of Nations victory over Egypt in the final in Libreville on Africa’s Atlantic coast at the weekend before charging back to the more parkier climes of Auld Reekie to contest the Edinburgh derby with Hibernian in the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

Given his exertions, Djoum was probably happy to sit on the bench for the first hour or so of Sunday’s stalemate but, with the Tynecastle pitch as churned up as a beach after a heavy mortar assault, the last 25 minutes could have been so wearying on the legs he probably felt like he’d just walked back to Gorgie from the Gabon.

“I had one-and-a-half days to be ready so it was quite short,” said Djoum. The victory for Cameroon saw them crowned African champions for the first time in 15 years and, unsurprisingly, the celebrations were pretty lively. With a Scottish Cup tie with Hearts’s old foes to negotiate, though, Djoum couldn’t delve headlong into the rampant jollification. Not that he’s one for over indulging, of course. “I’m not used to drink and I’d take one glass of wine,” he said with an admirable sense of moderation. “But the celebrations were amazing. We stayed in Gabon the first night to party with the people there and then we got back to Cameroon. The people there were crazy. We had a tour of the city and enjoyed it with them. I would have liked more time to celebrate with them but I am a professional footballer. I have a contract here at Hearts so it’s important I get back as soon as possible. Maybe later there will be more time to celebrate the moment.”

While savouring the collective triumph that he achieved with his Cameroon team-mates, the personal satisfaction of playing the entire 90 minutes of the final has given Djoum an extra spring in his step. Having upset the odds somewhat by beating Ghana in the last-four to reach their first final since 2008, Cameroon completed the job with a 2-1 success over the highly-fancied Egyptians. It was the first time they had beaten the Pharoahs in the final in three attempts.

Djoum is hoping the feel good factor generated by that success can now benefit Hearts as the season progresses.

“It was the best moment and the biggest achievement,” said Djoum after picking up the first major honour of his career. “I never expected to win a cup like this so I’m very happy. I have that experience behind me now. When you win such a big trophy and are part of such a big success, you get more confidence in yourself. Playing in the final so that was a big boost personally too. I will try to take this with me and help Hearts.”

While Djoum was out in the Gabon with the rest of the Cameroon squad for a good three week stint, the Hearts manager, Ian Cathro, was doing a bit of wheeling and dealing in the transfer window with Greek internationals, Alexadros Tziolis and Anastasios Avlonitis, among the new faces arriving at Tynecastle.

“We have a lot of new players here but they look like good guys with a good mentality,” said Djoum. “I trained a couple of days with them but I saw a lot of quality. We can use that in the replay (against Hibs). On a better pitch we will do better things so I’m confident we can get a result.”