By Niall Gartland

TYRONE ladies captain Aoibhinn McHugh is determined to play the game and not the occasion in Sunday’s All-Ireland Intermediate Championship semi-final against Leitrim.

The level-headed midfielder is in her first season as captain and the chance to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand and receive national silverware on behalf of the county is certainly an appetising one, but there’s a game to be played first and foremost.

They know from experience that nothing can be taken for granted – indeed they fell to a surprise defeat to Leitrim not so long ago in the group stages – so McHugh is taking a measured approach to Sunday’s showdown at Croke Park.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” she said. “It’s obviously an achievement in itself to get to the final. At the start of the year it probably wasn’t front and foremost in our minds.

“I know it’s a cliché but we’ve taken things one step at a time with the league and the Ulster Championship, but now we’re in the final it’s definitely exciting.

“It’d be nice to finish the season with silverware but at the same time we have to take it for what it is, a game of football. We’ll try to perform our best and we’ll see what the result is at the end.”

Tyrone have found themselves in their first All-Ireland Intermediate Championship final since reaching back-to-back deciders in 2017 and 2018.

In 2018 they made amends for their defeat to Tipperary in the previous year’s final with a six-goal rout of Meath a year later, and a number of starting players that day are still at the coalface of their efforts.

McHugh, a young squad member when they landed the 2018 All-Ireland, commented: “It’s a big thing for us having girls like Emma Jane Gervin and Emma Mulgrew, especially we have a lot of young girls who aren’t as used to playing in the bigger games at this level.

“The influence of those experienced players is really important to us, it helps keep us all steady.”

Tyrone have talented young players coming through the ranks, including minor skipper Sorcha Gormley who is already making her mark at senior level. She entered the fray during the second-half of their All-Ireland semi-final win over Down and made an immediate impact with her movement and pace up front.

McHugh said: “If you’re a tiring defender in the middle of a game, Sorcha Gormley coming in probably isn’t what you want to see.

“Look, we know we have talented forwards and I think it’s just about preparing ourselves as best we can for the final and making sure we’re in the best position possible to put in a performance.”

Assessing their semi-final win over Down as a whole, McHugh says she was pleased with how they managed to carve out a victory in a hotly contested game of football.

“It was definitely a tight game and we could never relax, there was only ever a couple of points in it.

“At the same time we performed quite well and never dropped our efforts. Coming out with the win is the main thing in an All-Ireland semi-final.”

Finally, Aoibhinn says she is also exceptionally proud to represent her club Aghyaran when she leads her county out on All-Ireland final day.

“It’s obviously lovely to be able to represent your club as well as your county. I think there’s a lot of people from Aghyaran coming down to the game so hopefully I can do them proud.”