Ryan McHugh

Ryan McHugh
Personal information
Irish name Rian Mac Aodh
Sport Gaelic Football
Position Left Half Forward
Born (1994-04-11) 11 April 1994
Letterkenny, Ireland
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Occupation Student
Club(s)
Years Club
2011- Chíll Chartha
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
2013- Donegal
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles 1
All Stars 1

Ryan McHugh (born 11 April 1994 in Letterkenny) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays with his local club Chíll Chartha and the Donegal senior inter-county team. A former county minor, McHugh propelled himself onto the national stage with a 2-02 blitz of All-Ireland champions Dublin in the semi-final meeting at Croke Park.

McHugh has been likened to a child of school-going age - "You'd think he had just stepped off a school bus", GAA pundit Benny Tierney once said. His manager Jim McGuinness has suggested: "Even when the big hits are going in, Ryan has the ability to summon that little shimmy that helps to take him past defenders and allows him to set up colleagues."[1]

Early life

McHugh is the son of Martin, the BBC television analyst and 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winner.[2] His son Mark, Ryan's older brother, is also an All-Ireland winner with the Donegal senor team.[3] Ryan McHugh's uncle James also played in the 1992 All Ireland Final and received an All Star in 1992. His cousin Eoin is James's son.[4]

Playing career

With his club Chíll Chartha, McHugh won the 2010 and 2012 Donegal Minor Football Championships.[5]

He won an All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship and captained the 2012 Donegal minor football team. He also played in the under-21 team that lost to Cavan in the 2013 Ulster final, though had been troubled by a calf injury beforehand.[6][7] Jim McGuinness drafted him into his senior squad ahead of the 2013 season, with Donegal the defending All-Ireland champions.[8][9] Colm Keys of the Irish Independent named him as the third of his "ten young guns aiming to fire in the league" ahead of the 2013 National Football League.[10]

McHugh made his senior competitive debut in a home game against Down in the 2013 National Football League on 9 February 2013.[11][12][13] He made his senior championship debut against Down as well later that year in June. Photographs of him appeared in the media the following day.[14]

He played on the under-21 team that lost to Cavan in the 2014 Ulster final.[15] He propelled himself onto the national stage with a 2-02 blitz of All-Ireland champions Dublin in the 2014 semi-final meeting at Croke Park on 31 August.[16] Man of the match in that game, McHugh described himself as "fortunate" to have scored his two goals.[17]

In October 2014, McHugh was named as the All Stars Young Footballer of the Year for 2014.[18]

He scored yet another Championship goal at Croke Park against reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin in 2016, though Dublin emerged with a five-point win on that occasion.[19]

Honours

Senior
Under-age

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Campbell, John (11 September 2014). "Ryan McHugh becoming Donegal's key man". The Belfast Telegraph. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "The 'Wee Man' was big". Donegal Democrat. Johnston Press. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Donegal's victory poses problem for prospective wife of Mark McHugh". RTÉ Sport. RTÉ. 23 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "McHugh cousins looking forward to minor clash". Donegal Now. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  5. ↑ McNulty, Chris (December 2012). "Minor Cup is 'back down the trough' after Kilcar win". Donegal News. Retrieved December 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. ↑ "Ulster U21 Final Live: Donegal 1-06 v Cavan 0-13". Donegal Now. 10 April 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2013. Ryan McHugh is starting for Donegal, despite picking up a calf injury against Derry.
  7. ↑ "Ryan McHugh a big doubt for Ulster final". Donegal Democrat. Johnston Press. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "McGowan and McHugh called up". Donegal Democrat. Johnston Press. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  9. ↑ McMahon, James (31 January 2013). "Preview: Allianz Football League Division 1". RTÉ Sport. RTÉ. Retrieved 31 January 2013. McHugh's brother Ryan, an exciting minor from last year, has joined the squad, while Mark McGowan, a member of the St Eunan's team that won last year's county championship, gets a recall having last featured in the senior ranks in 2008.
  10. ↑ Keys, Colm (30 January 2013). "Ten young guns aiming to fire in the league". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "Donegal 0-12 Down 0-07". RTÉ Sport. RTÉ. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  12. ↑ "National Football League: Donegal 0-12 0-7 Down". BBC Sport. BBC. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  13. ↑ McNulty, Chris (9 February 2012). "Report: Donegal get off and running". Donegal News. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  14. ↑ Keys, Colm (24 June 2013). "McGuinness' mean machine finds way to stutter forward". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Cavan seal a fourth successive Ulster U21 football title as they see off Donegal: The winners finished strongly in tonight's decider at the Athletic Grounds". MSN. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Johnny Doyle column: The bookies don't normally get it so wrong - Our columnist holds his hands up and admits he never saw a Donegal win coming and heaps praise on a resurgent Kieran Donaghy". The Score. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014. Yesterday we also got a huge performance from Ryan McHugh. There wasn't too much about him coming into the game so I guess it's a bit like Shane O'Donnell last year for Clare. Ryan really used yesterday as a platform to announce himself on the national stage.
  17. ↑ "Ryan McHugh: We knew we could reach the final". RTÉ Sport. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  18. ↑ "Donegal forward Ryan McHugh wins Young Player award". BBC Sport. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  19. ↑ "Dublin star says Ryan McHugh is a 'savage player'". Donegal Daily. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
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