PAUL Hughes has cited a lack of game-time, hitting 30 and wanting to prolong his Crossmaglen Rangers career as the reasons for retiring from Armagh.
The highly-rated defender indicated he might well have stayed on with the Orchard County had he been playing for a club with little or no prospects of winning a championship – and wants to give the south Armagh club “four or five more good years”.
Hughes, who was due to get married at the end of this month, made his Armagh debut against Louth in 2014 and was first choice for several seasons.
Regarded as a front-foot defender, Hughes could play anywhere across the back-line.
He suffered a bad ankle injury that sidelined him for virtually the entire 2018 season and since then struggled to get back into Armagh’s starting XV.
Despite manager Kieran McGeeney asking him to consider giving Armagh one more year, Hughes felt the time was right to step away.
“We had an end of season meeting and what we were going to do next year and I just knew in my heart and my mind that I wasn’t going to be there next year,” said Hughes.
“The factors for stepping away were obviously [a lack of] game-time, I haven’t had much of it over the last couple of years. Maybe it was injury or just not being at my best form. I don’t think lockdown helped anyone and the short season didn’t help in terms of there weren’t a lot of games to show what you could do.
“There were no friendlies to show what you could do. It was tough if you weren’t starting. I was just mentioning to Kieran that county football is a big commitment, the training and your lifestyle, and that’s when you’re getting game-time, so it’s an even bigger commitment when you’re not getting game-time. It just became too big of a commitment for me for what I was getting back.
“Kieran was saying: ‘Give it another year and a full pre-season’, but I reached the point where I’d done six or seven years with Armagh. Maybe if I wasn’t from a club like Crossmaglen with the potential to compete every year I might have stayed on for another couple of years. So ‘Cross was a factor. I’m 30 now and I’d like to have four or five more good years with Cross, as long as I don’t pick up any injuries.”
When he was starting, he had a knack of scoring important scores in big games for Armagh. He’s the first to admit that pre-season training was his least favourite time of the year and simply didn’t have the desire to do another one.
Connaire Mackin and Ciaran O’Hanlon were McGeeney’s preferred wing-backs in 2021 as Armagh maintained their Division One status before they fell to Monaghan in an epic Ulster semi-final in Newry back in July.
Armagh face Cavan and All-Ireland champions Tyrone in the group stages of the Dr McKenna Cup next month before preparing to face Dublin in Croke Park in their Division One opener on Saturday January 29.
