Eoin McHugh

Eoin McHugh (born 1994/95)[1] is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Cill Chartha and the Donegal county team.

Eoin McHugh
Personal information
Irish name Eoin Mac Aodha
Sport Gaelic football
Born 1994 or 1995 (age 28–29)[1]
Occupation Marketing and Regulations Manager[2]
Club(s)
Years Club
201?–
 Cill Chartha
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
2013–
 Donegal
Ulster titles 1

He is the only son of James McHugh, a member of the team that defeated Dublin in the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.[3][4] His uncle Martin was also a member of that team.[4]

Playing career

Club

With his club Cill Chartha, McHugh won the 2012 Donegal Minor Football Championship.[5] He scored six points in the final and his use of both feet in executing these scores during a man of the match display was praised in the press.[6]

McHugh won the 2017 Donegal Senior Football Championship. It was the first time his club had won the title in 24 years.[7]

Inter-county

McHugh was an "experiment" of Jim McGuinness during the 2013 Dr McKenna Cup, with McGuinness giving him his debut in a defeat of St Mary's at MacCumhaill Park.[3] He continued to play for his county at under-age level.[1] He lost three Ulster Under-21 Football Championship finals.[8]

Then, at the age of twenty, McGuinness's successor Rory Gallagher called McHugh into the team in 2015.[1] He started Gallagher's first match in charge, a 2015 Dr McKenna Cup away defeat to Derry.[9] Later the same month, McHugh contracted meningitis, was unable to leave his bed on the morning after playing Fermanagh, and his weight went from eleven to nine stone: "That was pretty much the season gone… I tried to play with Donegal U21s, tried to play with the seniors, but I'd lost that much weight it ruined my season, ruled me out", he was later quoted by The Irish News.[4] In the 2015 National Football League, he was limited to two late substitute appearances against Monaghan and Kerry.[10] He started the fifth fixture against Kerry at Austin Stack Park and contributed 0–4.[11] Donegal qualified for the NFL semi-final. McHugh started this game but was substituted in the second half.[12][13]

McHugh, having overcome his meningitis, was more involved with his county team in the 2016 season; he started the first four games of the 2016 National Football League, against Down, Cork, Mayo and Kerry.[14][15][16][17] He also started the fifth fixture against Roscommon and scored a point.[18] He then started against Dublin in the sixth fixture at Croke Park.[19] He also scored a point against Monaghan in the seventh fixture but later went off injured.[20] Donegal qualified for the NFL semi-final. McHugh did not play in this game.[21]

McHugh started the final of the 2016 Ulster Senior Football Championship and played most of that game.[22] He had earlier scored two points in the quarter-final against Fermanagh, one point in the semi-final (drawn game) against Monaghan and also played in the semi-final replay.[23][24][25] McHugh scored 0–2 in the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifier defeat of Cork at Croke Park.[26] He then started against Dublin in the next game, at the same venue.[27] He was awarded an Irish News All Star for his performances during the 2016 season.[1]

McHugh made a substitute appearance in the opening fixture of the 2017 National Football League against Kerry and scored 0–1.[28] He scored the winning point in injury time away to Roscommon in the second fixture, a victory which provided his team with their first points of the season.[29] He started the third fixture against Dublin.[30] He started the fourth fixture against Cavan and scored 1–1.[31] He started the fifth fixture against Tyrone and scored 0–1.[32] He did likewise in the sixth fixture against Monaghan.[33] He made a substitute appearance in the seventh fixture against Mayo.[34]

During the 2017 Ulster Senior Football Championship, he made a substitute appearance against Antrim in the quarter-final and played in most of the semi-final defeat to Tyrone.[35][36] He also started both the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifier defeat of Meath at Páirc Tailteann and the qualifier loss to Galway at Markievicz Park.[37][38]

McHugh did not play for Donegal in the 2018 season.[2] He wished to complete his studies at Ulster University Jordanstown.[4] He graduated in marketing.[2] He then went to the United States.[2] There, he won the Boston Senior Football Championship with Donegal Boston.[1]

Under the management of Declan Bonner, McHugh returned ahead of the 2019 season, with a noticeably stronger physique, playing in the opening McKenna Cup game against Queen's University Belfast.[1]

He made a late substitute appearance against Meath in the second fixture of the 2019 National Football League, scoring a point.[39] He made another substitute appearance in the fourth fixture against Fermanagh.[40] doing likewise in the fifth fixture against Armagh, the sixth fixture against Cork and the seventh fixture against Kildare.[41][42][43] Donegal qualified for the National Football League Division 2 final and McHugh made a substitute appearance in the game as Donegal defeated Meath to win the title.[44]

He did not feature in the final of the 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship, which Donegal won.[45] However, he featured as a late substitute against Fermanagh in the quarter-final, then started and scored a point in his team's semi-final win over Tyrone.[46][47] He was one of the few players to receive a first Ulster Senior Football Championship medal and the only non-rookie yet to receive an Ulster medal of any kind (Jason McGee had an Ulster Minor Football Championship medal).[8]

McHugh started Donegal's first three fixtures of the 2020 National Football League against Mayo, Meath and Galway.[48][49][50] He made substitute appearances against Dublin and Monaghan in the next two fixtures.[51][52] Then the COVID-19 pandemic brought play to a halt. Play resumed behind closed doors on 18 October with a home game against Tyrone; McHugh did not feature in that game.[53] He made a substitute appearance in the concluding game of the league campaign, away to Kerry.[54] McHugh made an early substitute appearance in the 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final victory against Tyrone.[55] He started the semi-final victory against Armagh.[56] He also started the Ulster final against Cavan in what proved to be the season's concluding game for his team.[57]

McHugh made substitute appearances in each of Donegal's first three fixtures of the 2021 National Football League, against Tyrone, Monaghan and Armagh, scoring one point against Monaghan.[58][59][60] He started the 2021 National Football League semi-final against Dublin.[61]

Personal life

McHugh went to Boston in 2018 aware that he would have a job in marketing at AIB in Dublin when he returned to Ireland.[2] In mid-2019, he went back to live in Kilcar and took up the post of Marketing and Regulations Manager at Ocean Knowledge there.[2] His cousin and (teammate at club and with county) Ryan McHugh also works there.[2] Ocean Knowledge makes two kinds of fertilsers from a western Ireland (mostly Donegal) based seaweed known as Ascophyllum Nodosum.[2] This is then distributed internationally to sports venues, such as stadiums and golf courses for use on their grass.[2] Among the venues which deal with Ocean Knowledge are the Bernabeu, Croke Park and London's Emirates Stadium.[2]

The McHugh cousins, Eoin and Ryan, often play golf together.[2]

Honours
Donegal
Cill Chartha
Donegal Boston
Individual
  • Irish News All Star: 2016[1]
  • Donegal Minor Football Championship Man of the Match: 2012[6]

References
  1. "'I'm really enjoying it at the moment' — McHugh". Donegal News. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019. I never dealt with Declan (Bonner) before in my life until last year when I talked about taking a step back, and to be fair to him, he was 100% about that. But I knew if I was going to go back this year, then I would be back at square one like anyone else… However, perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the outing was his stronger physique. The 24-year-old has been working closely with new Strength & Conditioning coach Aaron Kyles in the gym, and believes it will stand to him in the future.
  2. Craig, Frank (23 April 2020). "Grass greener at home for McHugh". Donegal News. p. 54.
  3. O'Toole, Fintan (16 January 2013). "Dr McKenna Cup semi-final line-up confirmed while Mayo win in FBD League". The42.ie. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  4. "McHugh 'extremely lucky' to beat meningitis". Hogan Stand. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018. My mother doting over me, I suppose — I'm the only boy in the house — she was worried about it.
  5. McNulty, Chris (3 December 2012). "Minor Cup is 'back down the trough' after Kilcar win". Donegal News. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  6. McNulty, Chris (3 December 2012). "Major show from Eoin McHugh as Kilcar triumph". Donegal News. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  7. McNulty, Chris (15 October 2017). "End result all that matters for Kilcar after final win over Naomh Conaill". Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  8. "McHugh chasing elusive first medal". Donegal News. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  9. McNulty, Chris (4 January 2015). "Report: Rory Gallagher's experimental Donegal well beaten by Derry". Donegal News. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  10. "Monaghan grind out result in dour encounter". RTÉ Sport. 8 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  11. O'Riordan, Ian (15 March 2015). "Kerry hold nerve and Donegal in Tralee spring classic". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  12. "Football League Div 1 semi-final: Cork 4–11 0–19 Donegal". BBC Sport. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  13. Moynihan, Michael (13 April 2015). "Rampant Cork Rebels rock Donegal with goal rush". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  14. Bannon, Orla (30 January 2016). "Disastrous return to Division One for Down as Donegal run riot in Newry". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  15. "Cork crash to 10-point defeat as impressive Donegal go top of Division 1: Goals from Odhrán MacNiallais and Martin O'Reilly spurred Donegal to victory". The42.ie. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  16. Campbell, Peter (28 February 2016). "Donegal march on beating Mayo". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  17. Leen, Tony (7 March 2016). "Dogged Kerry win arm wrestle". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  18. Campbell, Peter (13 March 2016). "Rossies signal greater intent after win over Donegal". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  19. Keane, Paul (28 March 2016). "Donegal turn blind eye to James McCarthy incident". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  20. Shalvey, Colm (3 April 2016). "Allianz FL D1: Last gasp Monaghan avoid relegation". Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  21. "FL1 semi-final: dazzling Dubs demolish disappointing Donegal". Hogan Stand. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  22. Mooney, Francis (17 July 2016). "Late scores help Tyrone to Ulster title". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  23. Mooney, Francis (12 June 2016). "Odhran Mac Niallais brace powers Donegal into Ulster semi-finals". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  24. Mooney, Francis (25 June 2016). "Monaghan and Donegal draw in Ulster thriller". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  25. "Ulster SFC semi-final replay: Donegal 0–17 Monaghan 2–10". BBC Sport. 2 July 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  26. O'Toole, Fintan (30 July 2016). "McBrearty inspires Donegal to battling win over Cork and sets up clash with Dublin". The42.ie. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  27. Crowe, Dermot (7 August 2016). "Stuttering Dubs show their fallibility". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  28. Foley, Alan (5 February 2017). "Geaney at the double as Kerry achieve first opening round league win under Fitzmaurice". The42.ie. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  29. O'Brien, Kevin (12 February 2017). "Eoin McHugh the hero as his last-gasp point edges Donegal past Roscommon". The42.ie. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  30. Foley, Alan (26 February 2017). "Murphy's injury-time free rescues a draw for Donegal as Dublin extend unbeaten run to 32 games". The42.ie. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  31. Fitzpatrick, Paul (4 March 2017). "Donegal strike early to see off Cavan". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  32. Kelly, Kevin (18 March 2017). "Allianz FL D1: Donegal too good for Tyrone". Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  33. Foley, Alan (27 March 2017). "Late escape for Monaghan as Donegal pay penalty". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  34. Gannon, Colm (2 April 2017). "Aidan O'Shea's late introduction proves decisive as Mayo see off Donegal to avoid relegation". The42.ie. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  35. Foley, Alan (21 May 2017). "Paddy McGrath among the goalscorers as Donegal blitz Antrim to advance in Ulster". The42.ie. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  36. "Tyrone destroy Donegal to claim place in Ulster final". Irish Examiner. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  37. Keane, Paul (8 July 2017). "Round 3A Qualifier: Donegal edge thriller". Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  38. Small, Daragh (22 July 2017). "Round 4A Qualifier: Impressive Galway advance". Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  39. Campbell, Peter (2 February 2019). "Fortuitous goal sees Donegal come back to beat Meath". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  40. Campbell, Peter (24 February 2019). "Fermanagh rally against 13-man Donegal to stay unbeaten in Division 2". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  41. Foley, Alan (2 March 2019). "Super sub Murphy makes decisive impact in narrow win for Donegal". The42.ie. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  42. Hurley, Denis (16 March 2019). "Cork on brink of drop to Division 3 as Donegal power home". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  43. Branigan, Peter (24 March 2019). "Murphy masterclass fires Donegal back to top flight". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  44. O'Brien, Kevin (30 March 2019). "Murphy masterclass helps Donegal to Division 2 glory after comeback win over Meath". The42.ie. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  45. Sweeney, Peter (23 June 2019). "Donegal power past Cavan to claim Ulster title". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  46. Mooney, Francis (26 May 2019). "Donegal overcome Fermanagh in Ulster arm-wrestle". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  47. Mooney, Francis (8 June 2019). "Donegal power past Tyrone to make Ulster decider". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  48. "FL1: Durcan delivers late as Mayo hold Donegal". Hogan Stand. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  49. Keane, Paul (2 February 2020). "Classy Donegal put Meath to the sword at Navan". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  50. McNulty, Chris (9 February 2020). "Allianz FL D1: Galway secure valuable victory". Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  51. "Mannion goal crucial as Dubs reel in Donegal". RTÉ Sport. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  52. Foley, Alan (1 March 2020). "McFadden and Ward hit the net as Donegal claim easy victory over Monaghan". The42.ie. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  53. McNulty, Chris (18 October 2020). "Allianz FL D1: Donegal defeat Tyrone". Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  54. "Understrength Donegal well beaten by Kerry". Donegal News. 24 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  55. Keys, Colm (1 November 2020). "Donegal in pole-position for Ulster three-in-a-row after dumping Tyrone out of Championship". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  56. Bogue, Declan (14 November 2020). "Donegal ease past Armagh to reach yet another Ulster final". The42.ie. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  57. O'Brien, Kevin (22 November 2020). "As it happened: Donegal v Cavan, Ulster senior football final". The42.ie. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  58. Bogue, Declan (15 May 2021). "Allianz FL D1 North: Donegal edge Tyrone". Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  59. McNulty, Chris (22 May 2021). "Allianz FL D1 North: Spoils shared in Ballybofey". Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  60. Bogue, Declan (29 May 2021). "Allianz FL D1 North: Donegal finish strongly to earn important point". Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  61. Campbell, Peter (14 June 2021). "Dublin share title with Kerry after defeating Donegal". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
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