Veteran Hughes still driving standards at ambitious Scotstown

​By Paul Keane

Not long after Darren Hughes had converted the winning penalty for Scotstown in Sunday's dramatic Ulster club SFC semi-final shootout, he was embraced by his family.

Daughter, Ava, got to him first on the pitch in Armagh city, then his son, Cillian, before a hug from wife Orlagh.

These are special times for an icon of Monaghan football who may have figured that the really big days were over for him after pulling the shutters down on a near 20-year inter-county career last August.

In fact, it could well be the case that his most important achievement in the game is still to come.

If Scotstown finally get over the line and win an AIB Ulster club SFC title next Saturday week, it will mean everything to a club, and a player, that has lost three finals in the last decade.

"To win this for the club, it would be something special," said Hughes.

The thing is, at 38 years of age, Hughes isn't simply part of a panel looking to finally smash through their glass ceiling, he is the one driving their bid for success.

Long before he kicked that winner against Newbridge of Derry, the Man of the Match award had already been secured by Hughes.

Wearing number 14, he operated mostly in defence, putting out fires and beginning attacks but, using all his experience and game intelligence, he also broke forward when it looked like the juice might be worth the squeeze, scoring two points and setting up several more scores including Tommy Mallen's goal.

So what exactly is his defined position with Scotstown these days?

"I haven't a notion," responded Hughes, not even joking. "I don't know, I'm not going to tell you any lies. I don't fully know what I'm at. I'm in the middle eight there anyway and sometimes I go into the back four to let Rory Beggan go up when I'm tired. I started at full-forward at the start of the year but just felt it wasn't working. I wasn't scoring enough. I wasn't good enough. So I've come out the field, around the middle, and it's working so far."

Hughes lasted the duration of Scotstown's 80-plus minute semi-final epic, a feat of endurance that was all the more impressive given he suffered a serious leg injury just last year whilst playing for Monaghan. Truth be told, it was a career threatening injury - he suffered a tibia fracture as well as medial collateral ligament damage in his knee - and nobody would have blamed him for packing it in.

The lure, and love, of his club is clearly strong though. And Scotstown needed everything he had to offer them last weekend in a game that was still tied at 2-20 apiece after extra-time.

"The pressure was on a couple of times," acknowledged Hughes. "It looked like we had it won and credit to Newbridge, they pegged us back and probably might have had chances to snatch it themselves. But we dug in, we called on all our experience to get over the line."

Thankfully for Scotstown, they have plenty of experience to lean into. From Hughes and sibling Kieran, to former All-Star Conor McCarthy and Beggan, it isn't a first rodeo for any of them.

"We said that at full-time, before extra-time, 'We've been here before, against Trillick a couple of years ago, in the county final this year'," said Hughes. "We've been in extra-time in games before so it's about having cool heads, calm heads and we did call on those experiences from before. And we've lost games in extra-time too, so you're always trying to learn."

Scotstown have won four Ulster titles in all but their last one came in 1989 and, since then, they've contested three finals, in 2015, 2018 and 2023, and lost the lot. As much as those defeats pained Hughes and his colleagues, last year's semi-final loss to Kilcoo was perhaps even worse. They coughed up 5-10 on that occasion and were beaten by a double-digit margin. Saturday week's final and rematch, back in Armagh, will be an opportunity to atone for that defeat as much as it will be a chance to claim silverware.

"We got a lot wrong last year," said Hughes, referencing the loss to Kilcoo. "We didn't play well. We didn't set up well. We left ourselves open. Thankfully you have to keep four back now so we'll not be caught out like that this time! But no, we didn't play well. We didn't do ourselves justice. Kilcoo grasped their opportunity and made hay."

The sides also met in a 2023 quarter-final and Scotstown won that one by a point.

"They're just so well drilled," said Hughes of the Down kingpins. "They're good on the ball, they're very efficient in attack. Their defence is ferocious.

"Darryl Branagan at six just drives them forward at every opportunity. They have good man markers inside, a lot of quality. Niall Kane, their goalkeeper, we went after him last year and yet he caused us a lot of trouble, he got his kick-outs away well, so we know we have a lot of homework to do in the next two weeks."