McHugh on skipping Mayo's trip to Chicago: 'No real deep story to it, we just chose not to go'

NO REAL DEEP STORY: Castlebar’s Donnacha McHugh and Darren Quinn of Garrymore square up. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie.

Nine years. Not only was 2017 the last time Castlebar Mitchels won a Mayo SFC title, it was also their last final appearance. For Donnacha McHugh, it felt like a lifetime.

The Mayo full-back was superb on Sunday as they saw off Garrymore in the decider.

“It means everything to us,” he said post-match.

“We have been away… For a big town, nine years was just too long and in those nine years we haven't even been back to a final.

“So we set out our stall around this time last year, because we were out in a group last year, so we met, we set out our stall and this is where we wanted to be back, and we're just delighted to get back there now. We will enjoy this week.”

For context, last year Castlebar didn’t get out of the group. Several of their inter-county contingent went to America for the summer; the likes of Sean Morahan and Bob Tuohy only came off the bench in their opening defeat to Belmullet.

This year, five Mitchels players were members of Andy Moran’s squad that won the All-Ireland in July. The week before the county final, they had a choice to make. The county squad were travelling to Chicago. Garrymore’s Mayo contingent were going.

“The option was there to go, I don’t know, we just chose not to go I suppose,” explained McHugh.

“There was no real deep story to it; we just chose not to go.” This is an amateur pursuit, at the end of the day. Players should be free to take trips away and enjoy the fruits of their labour. McHugh smiled when asked about the talk around lads heading Stateside in 2025. Their ambition, every year, has been the same.

“There was a bit around that.

“To be honest, every year you are at Mitchels, at Garrymore the same if you interviewed any of them, every year you believe you are going to win it.

“In a big town like this, that is your belief; you're always believing you're going to win it. Some years it doesn’t work out.

“For the last nine years, I'm sure every man in that Mitchels dressing room has thought we were good enough to win it.

“It is just this year… Sometimes things just happen, come along. Like that Garrymore (group) game, we learnt so much from it. And just things kind of click and we just got a bit of luck on our side I suppose.” 

He grew up dreaming of days like these. McHugh saw a golden generation come along and win four county titles in five years. It set the bar.

“They gave us so many days out; they gave us two days out in Croker, they gave us multiple county titles, they won four or five in that time.

“So many good players, I've been lucky enough over the years to play with a few of them, get to know them very well. Obviously Paddy (Durcan), Rory (Byrne), I think Donie and Johnny Maughan are the only crew left from the last 2017 winning team.

It's just been class getting to play with them and they set the tone around it.

“They are still so heavily involved in the club, you have the likes of Ger Mac, Stevie Keane, David Stenson, Donie Newcombe, I hope I'm not leaving out anybody out here.

“They're still so involved in the club. We have the Castlebar Nines every Easter and that is all them; that was their crazy idea. So they are still leading from the top.”