by Donal Keenan
They thought it couldn’t get worse. It did. Donegal reached the 1991 Ulster final and suffered an eight-point thumping from Down. ‘We didn’t know at the time that this was a really good Down team. That realisation would come later. But coming out of Clones that day I fully expected that it would be the last time I would play for Donegal,’ Martin reveals.
‘Myself, James, Noel Hegarty and John Joe Doherty left the ground together. As we were walking down the hill towards the town I told the guys, “we should remember this because it will probably be our last time making this journey together as Donegal footballers”. This had been our third Ulster final in a row. It was an ageing team and it was hard to see how we could turn it around.’
So how did they do it? ‘You would have to say luck had something to do with it as well as ability,’ insists Martin. ‘I mean we did have the talent, had it for a few years, but we needed some luck. All the successful teams do. And the draw we got for the Championship in 1992 was our bit of luck.’
There was little evidence of a turnaround when Donegal travelled to Breffni Park on 24 May 1992 to play Cavan. It was a tight match which Martin seemed to have won for Donegal with an angled 50-yard free kick just before the end. He recollects: ‘Our preparation was not good enough going into that game and we were lucky to get away with it. We were a point up when Damien O’Reilly fly-kicked a ball that went over the bar. It could just as easily have dipped under the bar and we would have been gone. There was no back door then. We got them back here to Donegal for the replay on a wet day and won easily enough. Then, with all due respect, we had Fermanagh and they were not going too well at the time. But that was a turning point.’
When the players returned to the dressing-room that June evening in Omagh, having beaten Fermanagh, the mood was grim. They had reached another Ulster final but that was no longer a cause for celebration. Deep down the senior players knew that time was running out and they knew they were wasting that time. Donegal were surviving on skill and instinct and that would not be enough if they were to get to the next level. The exchanges between the players were frank, even a little heated. For an hour they sat in the dressing-room while family and friends waited outside wondering what was happening.
‘We just knew we weren’t training hard enough. Derry had just won the National League, they were probably favourites to win the All-Ireland and it was obvious our preparations up to then were not enough to take on Derry. We needed tougher training and we made that clear. In fairness, our trainer Anthony Harkin took everything on board. We had four weeks to get ready. He went away and came up with a plan, what we called “shock” training. It was done in short, sharp bursts over the next two weeks and then we tapered off building up to the final.’
Derry were the team of the moment. A hot streak had included twelve consecutive victories in League and Championship, which included winning the League title. When John Cunningham was sent off early in the Ulster final and James McHugh had to move from corner forward to corner back, the task was all the harder. But Donegal’s pre-match approach was paying dividends. As the second half wore on they looked fresher. The Derry players looked jaded. Donegal won by 0–14 to 1–9.
There were other major events in the 1992 Championship. Clare beat Kerry in the Munster final in one of the biggest shocks in history and would play Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final. Mayo ended Roscommon’s two-year reign in Connacht and set up a date with Donegal. It would not be a game likely to find a place among football’s beautiful moments.
‘It must have been the worst All-Ireland semi-final ever played,’ recalls Martin. ‘It was terrible football. We were very nervous going into it. There was this thing about Donegal and semi-finals. We always felt that if we could get through a semi-final we could win a final. It happened at under-21 level. And we knew if we beat Mayo we had a great chance of winning the All-Ireland. I think we were afraid of losing.’
‘I don’t remember a lot about the game,’ admits James, ‘but I do remember getting home and people telling me that they had turned it off!’
The negative reaction to that semi-final worked in Donegal’s favour. While the county itself was engulfed in a colourful hysteria, with every townland, village and town festooned with flags and banners and bunting, the general consensus in the other thirty-one counties was that the All-Ireland title would belong to Dublin. Nowhere was that more strongly felt than in Dublin itself.
‘There’s no doubt they took their eye off the ball,’ says Martin. ‘The hype about them was incredible. People were saying that they would win the All-Ireland final by forty points. That was all based on our performance in the semi-final. That was the mistake everyone made. We had a mental problem with semi-finals and never played well in them. It was not a true reflection of the team. Our job against Mayo was to win a football match, not to entertain or to impress. We did enjoy some luck in the final. Charlie Redmond missed a penalty early in the game when Dublin were going well. But once we settled the game was ours. The best football we played that year was the second half against Derry and the last twenty minutes of the first half against Dublin. It was the best football we ever played as a bunch of players.’
James adds: ‘The whole All-Ireland experience is something that will stay with us forever and I am not just talking about the game itself. It is something every county player should be able to enjoy in his life because it develops you as a person. The county was alive in the build-up. It was a fantastic time and to be in the middle of it was a great privilege. And we didn’t get carried away with it. For some reason we were so confident going into the final that we hadn’t a care in the world.’
‘I’ll tell you how confident I was,’ interjects Martin. ‘I had figured out how I was going to get the ball at the end of the game. I decided I would be as close to the referee [Tommy McDermott from Cavan] as possible. That is what I was thinking of before the game. And I was in position, I got the ball and I still have it at home.’
At the end of the 0–18 to 0–14 victory, the players were engulfed in a maelstrom of emotions. The on-field celebrations were manic. Team captain Anthony Molloy’s victory speech, his exhortation that “Sam’s for the hills”, sent tens of thousands of supporters into further extremes of ecstasy. It was a struggle for the players to reach the dressing-room. When they did, a sombre mood prevailed. Rumours began to circulate that Joyce McMullan’s brother, Gerard, had died. The celebrations ended. Then Joyce’s sister rushed in to assure them that there was no truth in the rumours. The celebrations took on an even greater intensity.
‘We stayed at the Grand Hotel in Malahide that night,’ says Martin, ‘and it was just so good to see so many people so happy. We danced all night. Daniel O’Donnell sang for hours. I couldn’t believe the number of people I met that night or over the next few days who told me “I could die happy now”. We never realised what it meant to the people. I’ll never forget the crowds that welcomed us back on the Monday night. And then on Tuesday we brought the cup to Kilcar. My mother and father met the bus in the town. The pipe band led the parade. It was very special. All the neighbours came out to meet us and we could see how much it meant to them.’
According to James: ‘It was a wildly surreal feeling. I remember saying that people in small counties shouldn’t be winning things like this. What I meant was that we had grown up watching and admiring the likes of Kerry. We loved our club football and that was where we starred. This was all so new.’
So what had brought about such a change in status? James explains: ‘One of the most important things is that you have to believe that you can win at that level. For too long winning the Ulster Championship was all that really mattered here. When you had that won you went down to Croke Park for the weekend. You didn’t really think about winning the All-Ireland. But Down changed that in 1991. If Down had not won the All-Ireland in 1991 I don’t think Donegal or Derry would have come along afterwards. Down paved the way. We had played Railway Cup football with the Down lad
s, players like James McCartan and Ross Carr. They helped make the All-Ireland more reachable.’
Martin adds: ‘If you had the back door then Down, Donegal and Derry would have won a lot more. Down had no fear of anyone and that gave us the belief that we could do it as well.’
The celebrations went on, and on, and on. When the 1992 All Stars were announced the names of Martin and James McHugh were among seven Donegal players honoured. It was Martin’s second award, having previously been honoured in 1983. Gary Walsh, Matt Gallagher, Martin Gavigan, Anthony Molloy and Tony Boyle joined the McHugh brothers on the All Star rostrum. ‘I think the celebrations must have lasted four or five years,’ laughs James. ‘When we won the All-Ireland we didn’t know how to handle it. A year later it was all over for us. We played Derry in the Ulster final in Clones and there was a deluge. That was the saving of us. People wanted the game called off that day but not us. We weren’t ready for a final or Derry, and we wouldn’t have lived with them in good conditions. The celebrations had gone on too long. It was nobody’s fault but our own. The fact that conditions were so bad helped us. It was nearly unplayable.’ They lost by two points, 0–6 to 0–8.
Martin takes up the theme: ‘We probably should have achieved a lot more, a lot earlier. By the time we won the All-Ireland we were an ageing team. Players were picking up injuries and it was getting harder and harder. Our team was a mix of the under-21 teams from 1982 and 1987, but people forget that we had a lot of players who hadn’t been on those teams – James, Declan Bonnar, Brian Murray, Noel Hegarty, Martin Gavigan, Gary Walsh and Tony Boyle. We had an exceptional team but I think maybe we under-achieved. It was a very competitive period. Down and Derry were outstanding, Meath, Dublin and Cork were also very competitive. But we could have won more.’
Donegal did reach the National League final in May 1993 and Dublin again provided the opposition. The final went to a replay, but Donegal were playing on auto-pilot. The celebrations continued unabated. Not even the prospect of playing in front of 70,000 people in Croke Park against Dublin prompted an early night on the eve of the game. ‘It was as wild a craic as you could ever have had,’ says James. ‘We should all have retired there and then.’ Dublin won by 0–10 to 0–6.
By 1994 the retirements were beginning. ‘Peter Canavan beat us on his own,’ recalls Martin. ‘We were lucky we had won our All-Ireland before he came on the scene.’ Martin’s own future came under scrutiny. The position of manager in Donegal became vacant when Brian McEniff stood aside. Martin wanted the job but he also wanted to continue playing. ‘Brian had been player-manager in the 1970s and he was successful. I had been player-manager with Kilcar and we got to three county finals. I always felt it was easier to manage a team when you were on the field yourself, because you could see properly what was going on.’
The Donegal authorities were not prepared to take such a step. P.J. McGowan was appointed. Martin McHugh became manager of Cavan. ‘It was a difficult position for P.J. when he got the Donegal job. If I wasn’t playing well people would have said I didn’t want to play for P.J. If I had played on and he didn’t pick me or he took me off it would have been awkward for him and I didn’t want that. I couldn’t stay.’
Cavan were in lowly Division Three that winter when McHugh first arrived. He knew some of the players and soon came to appreciate the passion for football in the county. ‘It is a small county and it hadn’t had much success but it has such a tradition. And it has great people,’ he says fondly. They won promotion to Division Two in his first season and reached Division One a year later. He was also in charge of the under-21 team and they reached the Ulster final in 1995. They got to the All-Ireland under-21 final in 1996, but lost to a Darragh Ó Sé-led Kerry team.
McHugh’s natural enthusiasm was further fuelled by the passion of the people for football. The success of the under-21 team raised expectations. McHugh introduced new, demanding fitness and coaching structures. He set targets and there were no limits. Cavan had not won an Ulster title since 1969. The people craved success and McHugh was determined to deliver. Cavan had been outclassed by Tyrone in 1995, but by 1997 they were ready and defeated Derry in the final by a single point.
Martin’s future looked to be in inter-county management. But when he stepped away from Cavan he confined himself to advising colleges and clubs. Family and business took over and only his forays into the media, with a newspaper column and appearances as an expert analyst on television, diverted his attention. But his ambitions have remained.
‘I would like at some stage if I keep my health, if my business is going well and my family is looked after to have a go at managing Donegal. It is still an ambition of mine,’ he admits. ‘There have been opportunities but the time has not been right.
‘Actually,’ he adds, ‘there are two teams that could entice me back into management – Donegal and Dublin. The Dublin job is huge. They are the Manchester United of football. And I love the Dubs, their people have such a sense of humour. They love the craic but they are a very warm people and they love their football.’
Management, however, is extremely demanding. ‘There are only a few periods in your life when you can dedicate yourself to managing an inter-county team. That is when you are young and your family is young or when your family is reared and you can devote most of your time to the job. Because it is a full-time job,’ he insists.
‘I know there is a lot of controversy every year about managers being paid. But it is becoming a major issue and it is something that the GAA must address. Managing an inter-county team takes up all your time. The demands from the media alone are enormous. You spend all your time dealing with so many different things that it is impossible to work an ordinary job at the same time.
‘I believe the GAA should take the inter-county manager into the fold. He should be the full-time coach in the county, a director of football who also has responsibility for the county senior team. Not only would this facilitate the manager, it would be an investment by the GAA into football. You would be tapping into the expertise and knowledge of these people for the overall good of the game. If something is not done it will be very difficult to attract the right people to take on the county jobs because they just won’t have the time. It is not just about coaching, it is managing individuals, managing their time, planning and organising a daily schedule. It encompasses so many things that it occupies every minute of your day. I enjoy management but it is very time-consuming.
‘I hope that one day, I don’t know when, I will be in a position to get back into management. I am ambitious and I hope it happens.’
The McHugh brothers are passionate about their club and both are concerned about the future of club football in Donegal and around the country. ‘Inter-county football seems to be the focus of all the attention today,’ says James, ‘to the detriment of the club game. And that means that most of your footballers are suffering some form of neglect. Donegal is not unusual in this regard but during the best months of the year players can be waiting seven or eight weeks to play a game. That is no way to encourage them or to promote football.’
Martin strongly agrees: ‘We can’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. We have to be very conscious of the need to facilitate club football in a meaningful way on the calendar. We cannot just stop playing club football because of county football. We will drive players away if they cannot get games and then where will we get the players for the county team?’
He proposes a summertime structure of club and county football on alternate weekends, divided between the provinces. For example, one weekend in Connacht and Ulster would be exclusively for club activity, while in Munster and Leinster inter-county games would be played. The next weekend the schedule would be reversed. ‘And every player would play for his club. There would be no exclusivity. You can get injured as easily training as playing and every player loves to play matches anyway. I think this would not only benefit the club game but would also benefit the inter-county game.’
He warms to the theme of promotion. ‘Look at the amount of time and money that is spent on this Australian Rules thing [International Rules]. If there isn’t a fight in it no one is interested. I totally disagree with it. There’s nothing in it for us but we [the GAA] spend an awful lot promoting it when we should be promoting our own game. If we put the same energy into football as we do into the Australian thing, football would be much better off.’
They have few regrets. ‘When I am with young lads today the one thing that I constantly stress is the importance of enjoying your football,’ says James. ‘It means nothing if you’re not enjoying it. We were very lucky. We had good people looking after us at home, in the schools and in the club. And we had great times.’
The game still defines their days. Martin’s eldest son Mark is a student in NUI Galway and made his senior Championship debut for Donegal this year. Martin and Patrice have two other children, Ryan and Rachel. James and Noreen have two children, Emma and Eoin, the latter another promising footballer.
James would love the opportunity to meet more often with those he played with and against. He bumped into his old Derry adversary Kieran McKeever after ten years when they both happened to visit Cassidy’s pub in Dublin on the same evening. ‘We don’t meet except at wakes and funerals,’ he says. ‘Maybe that is something the authorities could look at.’