ON ANY GIVEN Sunday, if there is a high-profile game on in Ulster, you can bet your negative equity mortgage that Martin McHugh will be in the press box.
He could be doing media work for Ocean FM, Highland Radio, BBC or RTÉ. Or he might not be working at all, preferring the perch in the media box and the chance to swap nuggets of information than having to listen to gulpins unload their opinions on him.
In covering Gaelic games for a quarter-century, I have never encountered anyone with a greater appetite for knowledge, gossip or insight into teams, managers and players. He lives and breathes it.
When Brian McEniff stepped down from the job of Donegal manager in 1994, McHugh wanted the gig.
He was just 33 at the time. He felt there was another All-Ireland in that group to match the one they won in 1992. He also felt he was best placed to deliver it; he was a dressing room leader, and he would take numerous training sessions throughout the season with McEniff’s blessing.
One such intervention after the Ulster semi-final win over Fermanagh was widely credited by many players in the book Sam’s For The Hills as a critical moment that changed their mindsets and propelled them to the All-Ireland.
McHugh arranged a backroom team. The Donegal county board had other ideas and appointed PJ McGowan as manager.
Disgusted, McHugh hung up his boots immediately. He was ripe for a rebound and Cavan were the beneficiaries as he took over as their manager.
He brought them to the Ulster final in his first year. In his third year, 1997, they went and won it, their first provincial title since 1969.
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Martin McHugh in charge of Cavan in 1997. � INPHO / Billy Stickland
� INPHO / Billy Stickland / Billy Stickland
McHugh didn’t just swoop in and out of Breffni Park to take training and go. He controlled all aspects of team preparation and insisted on backing for the stuff on the periphery.
When it came to the Cavan jersey itself, McHugh helped design it. It was a unique garment, both retro and somewhat modern and the coolest geansaí on the market. McHugh wanted something the Cavan support would get good wear out of, not only at matches.
That is the home and environment that Mark McHugh was brought up in. Even before he emerged as a player for Donegal from 2010 on, he was a familiar figure as a sidekick to his father, making the journeys from Kilcar to wherever the ball game was at.
The GAA journalist Gerry McLaughlin, a long-time friend of the family, has his own way of describing this phenomenon in rootsy, agricultural sentiment: ‘an ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding.’
At 35, Mark has just won his first provincial title. In managerial terms, that is scandalously young. It deserves some context.
His own father was 36 when he won Ulster with Cavan. Pete McGrath was 38 when Down won the All-Ireland in 1991 and Jim McGuinness was 39 when Donegal won their second All-Ireland in 2012.
McHugh Junior’s would be an impressive enough feat with a leading county.
Manager Mark McHugh describes his Westmeath team as phenomenal after becoming Leinster champions for just the second time.
But this was Westmeath. A county that had won just a single provincial title, 22 years ago under the late Páidí Ó Sé.
This spring, Westmeath were within seconds of escaping Division 3, with Wexford grabbing a last-play goal to deny them promotion.
And from that grounding, they beat Longford, Meath, Kildare and Dublin to win it.
The last two years have put some wind in the sails of the provincial championships. At a time when they have been stripped of their importance in an All-Ireland context, this is important.
It would stand to reason there has to be more incentive to win your province rather than home advantage for both finalists. And in time, this might be under consideration given how pliable competition structures have become in the 21st century.
Prior to the Dublin takeover, which began under Pillar Caffrey, Leinster was a wildly entertaining province.
You had huge personalities with the Kerry influence of Micko and Páidí, Tommy Lyons of Dublin with his media-friendly soundbites and quips, and Seán Boylan of Meath. Because of Dublin’s excellence under Jim Gavin, there was little to recommend it.
Former Donegal teammates are slightly surprised about McHugh’s evolution into manager. He was a young man when he won the 2012 All-Ireland as one of the key figures.
He enjoyed that triumph and, to some extent, his appetite waned. In 2014, he left the county panel ahead of the Ulster Championship.
While he came back as a player, his role was diminished, and he was finished with county football before he entered his 30s.
There are some parallels with Jim McGuinness. When he took over as Donegal manager, not everyone was convinced he was such a dramatically different person to the man who they all knew previously as ‘Jimmy Tunes.’
It doesn’t stop there. For McGuinness bringing back Michael Murphy, read McHugh coaxing John Heslin back. The bravery of McHugh was matched by Heslin in accepting the challenge.
He has also accrued a decent level of managerial and coaching experience at this point. He started as a coach with the Fermanagh minors, before moving on to spells with the Donegal ladies, as well as coaching in Roscommon and under Dermot McCabe last year with Westmeath.
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McHugh has recruited well. He has a strong Westmeath figure in Emmett McDonnell as his assistant. He also has Ryan Daly and Stephen ‘Archie’ Beattie from Tyrone.
McHugh and Stephen 'Archie' Beattie. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Not so long ago, the GAA’s National Games Development Committee were considering the idea of restricting managers’ involvement to their own clubs and counties.
If such a rule were ever enshrined, it would leave achievements such as John Maughan’s Munster title with Clare in 1992, John O’Mahony with Leitrim in 1994, along with Ó Sé and McHugh in Westmeath an impossibility. Not to mention Martin McHugh with Cavan in 1997.
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An ounce of breeding worth a tonne of feeding – Mark McHugh's journey
ON ANY GIVEN Sunday, if there is a high-profile game on in Ulster, you can bet your negative equity mortgage that Martin McHugh will be in the press box.
He could be doing media work for Ocean FM, Highland Radio, BBC or RTÉ. Or he might not be working at all, preferring the perch in the media box and the chance to swap nuggets of information than having to listen to gulpins unload their opinions on him.
In covering Gaelic games for a quarter-century, I have never encountered anyone with a greater appetite for knowledge, gossip or insight into teams, managers and players. He lives and breathes it.
When Brian McEniff stepped down from the job of Donegal manager in 1994, McHugh wanted the gig.
He was just 33 at the time. He felt there was another All-Ireland in that group to match the one they won in 1992. He also felt he was best placed to deliver it; he was a dressing room leader, and he would take numerous training sessions throughout the season with McEniff’s blessing.
One such intervention after the Ulster semi-final win over Fermanagh was widely credited by many players in the book Sam’s For The Hills as a critical moment that changed their mindsets and propelled them to the All-Ireland.
McHugh arranged a backroom team. The Donegal county board had other ideas and appointed PJ McGowan as manager.
Disgusted, McHugh hung up his boots immediately. He was ripe for a rebound and Cavan were the beneficiaries as he took over as their manager.
He brought them to the Ulster final in his first year. In his third year, 1997, they went and won it, their first provincial title since 1969.
McHugh didn’t just swoop in and out of Breffni Park to take training and go. He controlled all aspects of team preparation and insisted on backing for the stuff on the periphery.
When it came to the Cavan jersey itself, McHugh helped design it. It was a unique garment, both retro and somewhat modern and the coolest geansaí on the market. McHugh wanted something the Cavan support would get good wear out of, not only at matches.
That is the home and environment that Mark McHugh was brought up in. Even before he emerged as a player for Donegal from 2010 on, he was a familiar figure as a sidekick to his father, making the journeys from Kilcar to wherever the ball game was at.
The GAA journalist Gerry McLaughlin, a long-time friend of the family, has his own way of describing this phenomenon in rootsy, agricultural sentiment: ‘an ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding.’
At 35, Mark has just won his first provincial title. In managerial terms, that is scandalously young. It deserves some context.
His own father was 36 when he won Ulster with Cavan. Pete McGrath was 38 when Down won the All-Ireland in 1991 and Jim McGuinness was 39 when Donegal won their second All-Ireland in 2012.
McHugh Junior’s would be an impressive enough feat with a leading county.
But this was Westmeath. A county that had won just a single provincial title, 22 years ago under the late Páidí Ó Sé.
This spring, Westmeath were within seconds of escaping Division 3, with Wexford grabbing a last-play goal to deny them promotion.
And from that grounding, they beat Longford, Meath, Kildare and Dublin to win it.
The last two years have put some wind in the sails of the provincial championships. At a time when they have been stripped of their importance in an All-Ireland context, this is important.
It would stand to reason there has to be more incentive to win your province rather than home advantage for both finalists. And in time, this might be under consideration given how pliable competition structures have become in the 21st century.
Prior to the Dublin takeover, which began under Pillar Caffrey, Leinster was a wildly entertaining province.
You had huge personalities with the Kerry influence of Micko and Páidí, Tommy Lyons of Dublin with his media-friendly soundbites and quips, and Seán Boylan of Meath. Because of Dublin’s excellence under Jim Gavin, there was little to recommend it.
Former Donegal teammates are slightly surprised about McHugh’s evolution into manager. He was a young man when he won the 2012 All-Ireland as one of the key figures.
He enjoyed that triumph and, to some extent, his appetite waned. In 2014, he left the county panel ahead of the Ulster Championship.
While he came back as a player, his role was diminished, and he was finished with county football before he entered his 30s.
There are some parallels with Jim McGuinness. When he took over as Donegal manager, not everyone was convinced he was such a dramatically different person to the man who they all knew previously as ‘Jimmy Tunes.’
It doesn’t stop there. For McGuinness bringing back Michael Murphy, read McHugh coaxing John Heslin back. The bravery of McHugh was matched by Heslin in accepting the challenge.
He has also accrued a decent level of managerial and coaching experience at this point. He started as a coach with the Fermanagh minors, before moving on to spells with the Donegal ladies, as well as coaching in Roscommon and under Dermot McCabe last year with Westmeath.
McHugh has recruited well. He has a strong Westmeath figure in Emmett McDonnell as his assistant. He also has Ryan Daly and Stephen ‘Archie’ Beattie from Tyrone.
Not so long ago, the GAA’s National Games Development Committee were considering the idea of restricting managers’ involvement to their own clubs and counties.
If such a rule were ever enshrined, it would leave achievements such as John Maughan’s Munster title with Clare in 1992, John O’Mahony with Leitrim in 1994, along with Ó Sé and McHugh in Westmeath an impossibility. Not to mention Martin McHugh with Cavan in 1997.
So tell me again, how could that be a good idea?
****
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