DARREN HUGHES believes Scotstown will have to beat Crossmaglen at their own game to have any chance of winning Sunday’s Ulster Club final.
The versatile 28-year-old has spearheaded Scotstown’s tilt at a first provincial title since 1989, more than justifying his selection at the edge of the square with a series of man of the match displays. And while Hughes and his team-mates unceremoniously knocked out reigning champions Slaughtneil in the quarter-final, ending Crossmaglen’s unblemished record in Ulster finals presents an even greater challenge.
“Where do you start and where do you stop, from the management team right through to the experience coming off the bench - the Kernans, Jamie Clarke, David McKenna, Johnny Hanratty - there’s no end to the quality throughout the team," said Hughes.
“We’ll hopefully set out our stall early on, but Crossmaglen are Crossmaglen, they’ve won these trophies over the last 20 years with their workrate, determination and quality, so we’re going to have to match that and more on Sunday to have any chance.”
On course to complete a clean sweep of man of the match awards in the championship, tallying 1-4 against Slaughtneil and 2-2 against Trillick, manager Mattie McGleenan’s decision to start the Monaghan midfielder at full-forward has paid off in spades. Hughes also admits it can be an isolating experience.
“You do venture out the field, whether it’s the right or wrong thing - you like to be on the ball and doing as much as possible, but we’ve been fortunate enough in the last few games. I’ve had plenty of scoring opportunities and, thankfully, took them.”
Yet McGleenan’s decision was not an entirely unsurprising one considering Hughes’ history of positional changes, even togging out as goalkeeper for Monaghan against Armagh in 2010.
“Matt said to me in the middle of the summer, coming up to championship time, he’d like to try to get full-forward and see how it goes, it mightn’t have gone that well at the start, but he stuck by it,” Hughes said.
“I’ve always been in the forwards, but predominately at half-forward over the last few years, so he decided to mix things up a bit, probably to take the predictability away from us in the club championship. Myself and a couple of the boys alternated positions and I became a bit more of a presence inside. It’s going well so far, but I’m under no illusions at the size of the the task on Sunday.”
Hughes will be the only player on show on Sunday who also took part in last Saturday’s International Rules test, coming through unscathed in Ireland’s four-point win.
“I’m glad to come through - not that during the match it was playing on your mind as such, but because a lot of people were talking about it during the week when you’re at club training, telling me to be careful," he said.
“But the same physicality isn’t in game as it used to be, so if you’re moving the ball quick, you’re less inclined to get caught in the tackle and that was the case on Saturday night thankfully.”
No stranger to the big occasion, Hughes has featured in five Ulster finals with Monaghan since making his intercounty debut in 2006. But without a similar point of reference in his club career, he admits Sunday’s match will still be a new experience for him.
“It’s hard to compare at the moment because you’re not in the match-day zone. The bit of experience means you don’t read into the hype as much, whereas you have to try to keep the younger lads a bit more grounded,” he added.
Scotstown haven’t been one of the leading lights in Ulster football for some time now. Four-time winners, including a three in-a-row from 1978-80, Hughes claims it may actually be a benefit that he doesn't hail from a family with a strong footballing lineage.
“You don’t have to listen to how you played or what you did wrong coming in the door in the evenings, so it probably helps it a bit. It can work the other way too sometimes, they mightn’t know what they’re talking about," he said.
“[But] because I’m not related, our tradition doesn’t affect me as I’m first generation in the club. Some of the lads have fathers with Ulster medals and, when you’re in the pub, talk isn’t how many county medals you have, but how many Ulster medals. But it’s a new team, we’re making our own path and we just have to see where Sunday takes us.”
