From Keel to Croke Park for Donnacha

Time passes by in the blink of an eye.

As All-Ireland champion Donnacha McHugh looked at all the children taking penalties at St Colman’s Care Centre in Keel on Achill Island for their annual garden fete last month, he smiles as he recalls being there as a kid himself.

His father, Denis, is from Crumpaun in Keel and the St Colman’s fete was a regular fixture in Donnacha’s childhood.

And the kid never leaves you either – McHugh couldn’t resist going down and taking a few penalties and standing in goal himself. It’s one thing trying to mark David Clifford in an All-Ireland final, it is another thing trying to save some of the bullets that were being fizzed in his direction.

McHugh was the guest of honour at the popular annual fete and the reverence towards him from young and old alike was striking. McHugh posed for photographs, gave everyone his time and was the epitome of grace. He even had the pleasure of having a song sung to him. Local poet Michael O’Donnell penned a song for Mayo winning Sam and sang it to McHugh at the end of a questions and answers sessions.

He told the children there about the values of hard work and chasing your dreams and afterwards spoke to the Western People.

“Playing for Mayo was always something I wanted to do from the very first moment I played football at five or six, you do want to be playing for Mayo. I think that every kid that grows up with GAA dreams of playing in Croke Park then so, absolutely, it was always something I wanted to do from being a young child,” he admits.

His own call-up came in November 2021 in the wake of the All-Ireland defeat to Tyrone. He doesn’t recall any scar tissue at the time from the established players.

“The lads were just raring to get going again from what I remember when I went in. Obviously when you come in as a new fella, you’re not doing much talking! You’re into a dressing room with lads you’ve idolised, some of them for ten years. The mood was pretty good when I went in, the lads were just ready to get going for the 2022 season,” he said.

In the four years that followed, Mayo got to two quarter-finals, one preliminary quarter-final and failed to get out of the group in 2025. How close did McHugh feel they were?

“I think every year you go out, you believe you can win the All-Ireland. We wouldn’t be there if that wasn’t our belief. Over those years we were close, there were a few games where we just couldn’t get over the line in a few of them Connacht finals, in a few preliminary quarter finals, lost by a kick of a ball so we knew we were really close coming into this year. Finally our luck turned a bit, we just got over those tight games thankfully,” he said.

He missed all of pre-season this year with a hip injury, played four league games but a ‘nick’ sidelined him for the start of championship. He came on against Roscommon and started every other game from then on.

He admits they ‘learned so much about ourselves’ from the Roscommon defeat and focused on ‘staying in the game’ when the opposition were on top.

The Meath win was a big turning point and Mayo found themselves back in Croke Park for the first time in championship since 2023.

McHugh was handed the task of marking Cork dangerman Steven Sherlock.

“You would be looking forward to it. You always want to challenge yourself against the best. In the Cork game then, you’re getting such great support from the lads, Sam, David McBrien, they’re getting so much pressure out the pitch that it helps you so much to stop getting that kick pass in. You’re really looking forward to them days, playing in Croke Park any time you’re going to be nervous but ultimately you’re going to really want to enjoy it and then to test yourself against the best players in the country, it is something that everyone would love to do,” he said.

As good as Steven Sherlock is, the final was a step-up, marking three-time Footballer of the Year David Clifford. What level of planning went into the job?

“He’s a really good footballer. You do plan for him obviously, you have to plan for someone like that. We probably did a bit of talking about how we’d deal with him alright but then from then on, you’re kinda focusing on yourselves,” he said.

Clifford’s first-quarter goal helped Kerry to a seven-point lead and there was an ominous mood in Croke Park.

“It’s definitely not the start we wanted! I think it’s something if you’re ever close to the sideline, you’ll definitely hear Boyler or Andy shouting it in them moments, it’s just stay in the game. In them moments every team will get your purple patch and it’s about how little damage you can let them do in that patch.

“So at that stage you’re just trying to stick to your plan, stick to what you said you’d do and stay in the game, stay at it and then you see it works, we get a ball, Carney gets up the pitch, kicks a two and next thing that goal, it doesn’t feel the same, but that goal is only worth one point now, Ryan kicks the next two and next thing that little momentum change so you’re really you’re staying in the game in them moments because something will change. At the top level, teams are going to have their purple patch. You’re just sticking at it, knowing it will change at some stage,” he recalls.

He had a front-row seat to Clifford’s outrageous final quarter two-pointer off his weaker right foot as Mayo struggled to hold on.

“You just kinda have to say ‘fair play, well done’! With him, you’re just trying to not let him shoot on his left foot. That’s hard enough done so when he turns on the right foot there, outside the arc, you just have to say ‘well done’, there’s not much else you can say.” 

Mayo held on, with Seán O’Shea’s late two-pointer dropping short and McHugh helped Mayo clear their lines and the hooter brings an outpouring of emotion hardly ever seen in Croke Park.

“Oh, surreal to be honest. I’ve always heard people say when they won it that it didn’t feel real and I couldn’t understand that but it did not feel real. I think I said it to the lads in the dressing room afterwards, I came into (Eoin) McGreal and said I was expecting to wake up in the room ready to go and play the match again. It’s just unreal. Relief at finally getting over the line, just happiness, you’re delighted you’re with your teammates, you’re embracing each other, you’ve finally got to where you wanted to get to at the start of the year and many other years so it’s just brilliant.” 

Making those childhood dreams a reality.