Rampant Hearts crushed struggling Aberdeen with a four-goal first-half blitz at Tynecastle, moving them closer to finishing third in the Scottish Premiership.
Before the break, Lawrence Shankland and Michael Smith both scored goals for the Jambos. Cammy Devlin made it 5-0 just after the hour to give the Jambos their biggest top-flight victory in seven years.
Hearts, who are currently unbeaten in eight games, moved seven points ahead of Livingston in fourth position and nine points ahead of the Dons, who were largely expected to be their main competition for third place.
Andy Halliday was substituted by Devlin in the starting lineup for last Friday's 1-0 victory over St. Mirren by manager Robbie Neilson after Halliday withdrew due to a head injury.
Goalkeeper Kelle Roos' injury and captain Anthony Stewart's suspension forced Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin to make two changes to the lineup for Sunday's Viaplay Cup semifinal extra-time loss to Rangers. Joe Lewis and Jonny Hayes were inserted in place of Roos and Stewart, respectively.
In the eighth minute, Ylber Ramadani of the Dons capitalized on an errant pass from Robert Snodgrass and surged towards the outside of the Hearts box, but Zander Clark deflected his low drive for a corner.
The Dons failed to save James Hill's long throw from close to the left corner flag in the 15th minute, and the Jambos took advantage when Ginnelly pounced in the six-yard box to poke the ball home.
Toby Sibbick's diagonal pass out to the right found Smith, who took a great touch before steering a left-footed drive beyond Lewis from just inside the box in the 28th minute to double their advantage.
The Jambos were on the attack and came within a whisker of adding a third when Barrie McKay curled just wide from the outside of the box in the 33rd minute.
Five minutes later, the hosts did increase their lead to three when Shankland converted his 19th goal of the season from the penalty spot after Liam Scales was found to have touched a Snodgrass corner after a VAR review.
Two minutes before the break, Luis Lopes had a golden opportunity to give Aberdeen hope, but Sibbick came back to make a crucial challenge just as the attacker was about to shoot inside the box.
Amazingly, Hearts still had time to score a fourth goal before halftime as Ginnelly snuck in at the near post and deflected the ball over Lewis following some outstanding build-up work by Smith and Shankland on the right.
Shankland nearly scored again seven minutes after the break, but he scuffed a Ginnelly cross against the near post from close range. The Dons had made a strong second-half start, but Devlin's goal in the 62nd minute ended any aspirations they had of mounting a comeback.
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