A long journey to the Aviva Stadium
“No, no, it’s not,” he smiles. “I’ve been knocking around a lot of clubs. I’ve made a lot of friends out of the game. “I’ve no regrets. I’ve enjoyed it. I think you’d be quicker naming teams I haven’t played for.”
Which is not a whole heap of an exaggeration considering that he’s pulled on his shooting boots for, among others, St Francis, St Pats, Kilkenny City, Kildare County, Dublin City, UCD, Dundalk, Monaghan Utd and, now for a second time, Shels.
But the beauty of such a well-travelled career is that, at the age of 31, the striker is enjoying a bountiful late harvest, his 26 goals this season helping Shels back into the Premier Division and towards Sunday’s FAI Cup final against Sligo Rovers.
“It wasn’t one of the objectives we set out at the start of the season,” says Hughes of reaching the cup final. “We set out to get promoted and push all the way in the league and we did do that. The disappointment of Saturday night (when they lost the First Division title in the last minute to Cork City) can probably give us a bit more determination and a bit more fight come Sunday.”
This season for Shels has been an especially rewarding one for a player who has always had to combine his football commitments with holding down a full-time job as an electrician with Irish Rail.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of sacrifice,” he agrees. “It’s hard on your family. You’re going home, you’re just getting a quick bite to eat and you’re back out the door.
“The girlfriend, the kids, they don’t see you. You’re coming back at nine o’clock, the kids are in bed and your girlfriend is wrecked from watching the kids. It is a sacrifice, you give up a lot but the likes of this, getting to the Aviva and getting promoted, makes it worthwhile.
“I have an eight-month old and my girlfriend has a five-year-old. The five-year-old, Ellie, knows what’s going on. She keeps asking me can she come out and play. She wants to actually play in the game in the Aviva so I keep having to disappoint her and say ‘no, no, no, you can’t’. But I think she’ll be a mascot on the day.”
There’ll also be a friendly face in the opposition ranks.
“I went to school with Jason McGuinness,” says Hughes. “He was probably one of my best mates. Yeah I literally live about five or six doors away from him. But even though we’re friends, he doesn’t hold back.
“Yeah, I’d say he’ll take great joy in kicking me off the park.”
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