GAA:IN WINNING the last seven All-Ireland football titles between them, Tyrone and Kerry have highlighted the importance of having the right man in the number 10 shirt. Someone who will work like the devil, wrestle for every breaking ball, empty the tank and preferably chip in with a couple of points. Someone like Brian Dooher, or Paul Galvin – not that those men are easily found.
Although he wasn’t an obvious candidate at the start of the year, Down have found that man in Danny Hughes. If they are to beat Cork in Sunday’s All-Ireland final, much will depend on how well Hughes continues to dominate at right-half forward, just like he did against Kerry in the quarter-final, and against Kildare in the semi-final. Hughes is one of the key cylinders to the Down engine, and if he doesn’t get motoring the whole thing could stall.
The advantage for Down is at age 28, and with the realisation chances like Sunday have been a long time coming, Hughes appears primed for another slick performance. Along with Benny Coulter, he speaks honestly about Down’s frustrations of recent years, and how the loss to Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final marked a turning point. There’d be no more feeling sorry for themselves; the ultimate salvation was just a qualifier journey away.
“Sure, there were so many low points over the years I couldn’t single out one,” says Hughes. “But I’m not even thinking about the low points any more. It’s all about the future. I don’t like going into the old things anymore, because I’m quite a positive person.”
There’s no doubt Hughes has reinvented himself this year, not just in terms of attitude, but also his work rate. He’s finally found his true role in the team under manager James McCartan, although Hughes says nothing has really changed – beyond perhaps the collective mindset of the team.
“Every game I’ve ever gone out to play, I wanted to be the very best player on the field, and make sure I get the better of my opponent. It’s always been like that. But for me, it’s still all about the future, and Sunday’s game.
“You can get nervous, too uptight about it. The media, the supporters, will make a lot of it, but it’s just another game, about performing to your maximum. We just have to focus on that first ball we get, and how hard we want to work after that.”
There’s no way Down are about to rest on their laurels. They may have beaten Kerry and Kildare, but they haven’t won any silverware yet. And it could be Cork’s desire to win might even be greater, given their near misses in recent years.
“Well I really feel that’s a question for Cork,” reckons Hughes. “Because I don’t know. I just know you’d have been chased out of the county if you said at the start of the year Down would be an All-Ireland final. We’re somewhere we didn’t expect to be, but now we are there, we have to make sure we make the most of it.”
Having been called into the Down team in 2002, under Paddy O’Rourke, and making his championship debut in 2003, Hughes could even be thinking Sunday will be his first and last chance to win an All-Ireland: “Well it probably should be when you think about how long it’s taken to get here. But we’re building the whole time too. James McCartan deserves credit for that, and the previous managers, and hopefully we aren’t just a one-off team.”
The big difference this year, he says, was being able to shake off the defeat in the Ulster championship, and make it through the qualifiers for Down’s first quarter-final date – against Kerry, the team they’d never lost to in the championship. “I felt that was as good a performance as anything I’ve been involved with in Down. It’s funny because everyone tipped Sligo to bounce back and beat us. So we always felt we could beat Kerry, as long as we focused on how intense we needed to be,” he says.
“Against Kildare it was very tense. Kildare kept coming back at us. But again we showed the wee bit of character. Fitness doesn’t really come into it at that stage. It’s about not making mistakes, not giving away something critical that’s going to lose it for you.”
Hughes has been playing through the pain barrier having been diagnosed with a stress fracture in the metatarsal bone of his foot after their opening qualifier win over Longford. “I know some players with this injury are wrapped up in cotton wool. But that’s not the way we operate around our part of the country. You get out and give it a go.”
Danny Hughes
Age: 28 Club: Sabhaill
Position: Right-half forward
Occupation: Accountant
Honours: Dr McKenna Cup 2008; Ulster Railway Cup 2009
