By Frank Craig

Mark McHugh says he knew his time was up with Donegal for the simple reason he felt he wasn’t at the required level any more.

At just 30 years of age, but with 10 gruelling seasons done in the senior ranks, he clocked out. But he says there are no regrets, only good memories to take from his time spent in his county jersey.

Life had also changed for the Kilcar man in recent times. With a young family at home, the want or desire to dig that deep just isn’t there any more.

What had been the most important thing in his life almost from the very beginning, just wasn’t that important any more.

As a sports writer, I’d probably developed a conditioned opinion of Mark McHugh the player or, should I say, Mark McHugh the sweeper. His role was so defined with Donegal that it had become hard to see past it.

Last season, back with his club, that mould was broken. Operating in midfield, and in the absence of the likes of Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh, he excelled in the responsibility.

With the shackles off, he was simply sublime. The usual energy was there of course but there was a panache and individual streak that had probably been a little suppressed by the templated nature of modern inter county football.

There is no doubt McHugh had to sacrifice a large part of his own instinctive game with his county but it was probably easier to make peace with that given the fact Donegal were so successful in that time.

A brilliant reader of the game and blessed with an unnatural level of stamina, he was more than likely the only one capable of carrying out the role Jim McGuinness had identified for his new-look Donegal back at the turn of 2011.

Outside looking in now, McHugh can reflect back without guard or secrecy. The first born son of the legendary Martin McHugh; from very early on there would have been a sense of expectation.

But could he feel it?

“There probably was (expectation),” he says. “Meeting people in the street, and I’m sure it was the same for Ryan and Eoin, but you’d have ones teasing or asking you ‘are you going to be as good as your dad or your uncle’?

“It was something you were always aware of. But we’d a sort of foundation from dad growing up. In the house, from a very young age, he’d be over and back throwing ball to us.

“We were chasing an O’Neills probably before we were able to walk! You were picking up the basic skills before you even got out onto a field for the first time.

“You were hopefully a wee bit ahead of the curve because of that. You were being dragged off to games, not dragged because I loved it, but you were off to games all over the country. And you really fell in love with it.

“With dad, you were definitely told what you did wrong after a game! But there was learning to take from that too as I would have went on to play under numerous managers who more often than not gave it to you straight.

“You have to be able to take advice and, as you say, constructive criticism. And we certainly weren’t immune to that just because we’d a dad outside the wire that had an All-Ireland medal at home.”

McHugh recalls his early days growing up in Kilcar and the school yard games and indeed rows he says shaped him as a player and also sharpened his competitive spirit. That street culture, he feels, has slowly disintegrated. And a kid’s life, he insists, is all the poorer for it.

He explains: “I see kids now and they’re all rewarded and there is very little criticism dished out. They’re all rewarded – and I’m not saying it’s wrong – but you have to learn how to deal with adversity and even defeat.

“When you fail or do something wrong there is great reward in improving or learning to put it right. I’m involved now with various things at underage and you see medals being handed out to everyone.

“I know that winning and losing isn’t the most important thing at that age but there has to be some value or reward in competition.

“I feel, and this is just my opinion, they’re too mollycoddled. I was listening to a radio show recently and they were debating playground football being banned because of liability or health and safety.

“It’s madness. You learn so much in the playground. You’d come in with cut knees but it really pushed you on.

“Everyone can probably relate to this but I remember being a young fella and the sixth class ones being short. If you got a call to make up the numbers you were as proud as punch.

“To see that kind of thing being fazed out would sadden you. It’s a reflection of the world we live in now I suppose. But I’ll always be grateful that it was the way we came up.”

McGuinness

Jim McGuinness – from the outside looking in any ways – was often seen as a taskmaster during his Tir Chonaill reign. But McHugh has nothing but good things to say about the Glenties man and what he delivered for his county.

On the specific plan he had for him, McHugh said: “I don’t know if I was taken to one side as such. I’d played for Jim the previous year in the U21s so I’d a head start maybe on it.

“It’s not that the sweeper was a new position at that stage. It just evolved. It didn’t stand still at me either. It moved on and is even a different role again now. Jim had a view on how he wanted to play it.

“He needed someone fit, someone with stamina. And I suppose if you looked at training sessions at the time I was in very good shape.

“I was ahead of most in those lung bursting runs. And I was able to maintain that energy over the course of the session. It wasn’t just about stamina, you also had to really play with your head up, and I mean without the ball.

“You had to read the game as one direct ball from the other end of the field brings you into play right away. You couldn’t switch off.

“It’s almost like how a ‘keeper probably feels now, you’re quarter backing. You had to be in the right place at the right time, cut out ball, know when to go or stay.

“At that stage, sides were still persisting or looking to kick ball and it played into our hands. Like I said, it evolved and it definitely moved on in 2012 from what I’d done in 2011.

“That first year, I just didn’t get forward enough. We did sit down as a group and we definitely identified that I could join up with the play on the attack more when we’d the ball.

“There was a risk factor in that if you were turned over but we really prided ourselves on not letting that happen.”

He continued: “It was intense. But it was what we wanted and what we needed. Jim’s mantra was ‘commit, focus, believe, achieve’. And from that very first day in Downings, everyone knows the story; but he challenged us all for a show of hands from whoever believed we could win an All-Ireland. Now remember where we were at the time.

“But it energised us – it energised the whole county. My wee cousin Daniel, five or six at the time, and my granny were down in Killybegs one afternoon, heading to the chapel. Now anyone that knows Killybegs, the chapel is on a wee hill.

“My granny was complaining about the hill but the nephew turned to her and said, ‘nanny, if you commit, focus and believe, we’ll get up the hill’!

“That was the kind of effect Jim was having. He was amazing. If you sat down with him and had a coffee, you’d leave in a better mood.

“But with Donegal, we were just really lucky that we’d a great group of people willing to learn and willing to change their entire life to achieve something. We were such a competitive group in the end and we wanted to change how things had gone for us.”

In 2013, Donegal wobbled as Monaghan swept in and snatched their Ulster crown. On that forgetful day, just nine minutes in, McHugh was unceremoniously charged by Stephen Gallogly and spent the night in Letterkenny General Hospital having suffered concussion, a perforated eardrum and a quad muscle injury.

Brother Ryan has also had to take two separate prolonged breaks from football due to concussion. It’s an area Mark believes still has scope for education and improvement in, within the GAA.

Concern

“A lot more is spoken about concussion now than it was even back then,” he said on his own experience. “Even to this day, I can’t remember that game. I’ve watched it back. All I can remember is sitting in the dugout and Kevin Moran, our doctor, beside me.

“I looked around, looked up and said to Kevin, ‘there must be a big game on with that crowd’. I didn’t know where I was. Mum came down and it was really alarming. All I can really remember from that day is the initial warm up. Not the one on the field but the one on the other field walking across. That’s it.

“I was at a conference a while back with some athletes from different sports. Rory Lamont, the Scottish rugby player, suffered 15 concussions.

“They showed a DVD and some video of American footballers who suffered severe brain trauma due to concussion going back decades. It was scary to see what their lives had become. You’re talking about conditions similar to alzheimers and dementia.

“You see now in the GAA every week the size of the hits going in. But head to head is a serious thing and it needs to be looked at. Luckily enough, Donegal probably have one of the leading doctors in Ireland on concussion, Kevin Moran, involved. If there is any doubt he’ll pull you aside.

“Ryan’s situation, the concussion he received for Donegal was actually a delayed one. He finished the game. I remember the following Tuesday night, we were only starting our warm up.

“We were jogging and then he stopped to take a drink. He carried on and then stopped again. I kinda teased him that he couldn’t be tired already.

“But he said, ‘I don’t feel well at all’, He was away for a scan the very next day. He couldn’t work, he couldn’t look at any type of screen. It’s a really worrying thing.

“Counties are getting on top of it but it’s something I feel every club should be pushing as hard as possible to their various teams and coaches.”

McHugh can of course look at a superb collection of medals on the mantelpiece back home to go along with all the friendships made and relationships forged throughout his time with Donegal.

But he admits for the many that don’t lift the big prizes, there will be an inevitable kickback and re-evaluation of the life balance currently being afforded by players to Gaelic games.

Reward

“For me, of course it was worth it. At the time, for the 10 years I was involved with Donegal, it was an honour to wear the jersey. The level it’s got to, it’s not for everyone.

“At the time, it was all consuming. But my responsibilities in life were no where near as big as they are now. Where I live in Kilcar, it’s an hour and a half to training and the same back.

“You’d be missing so much time with your kids growing up, if you’d family. You want to be there as much as you can. You have work during the day so it’d be too hard coming in the door in the evening and going straight back out again.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to play either. I just don’t know if I’m at that level any more myself. I loved it though. I made friends for life. And I was very, very lucky that we were successful.

“That pay off isn’t always there for other counties who are putting in the exact same work. Something will have to be done as we will lose players. It’s a huge problem. They started to look at it a little with the Tier 2 system.

“But lads down in Division 4, they’re putting in the exact same work as a Dublin or Donegal lad. They’re not going to keeping hanging around and meeting the commitment that’s being asked of them at this moment if there’s no hope of achieving something.”