Hughes aiming to grasp unexpected opportunity

CHAMPIONSHIP 2010:MUCH HAS been written and said this week about James McCartan's influence on the Down football team, and how, in his first season as senior manager, he has unquestionably helped them progress to Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final.

Not that they intend stopping there. Indeed much of the same stuff has been written and said about Kieran McGeeney and his similar influence in inspiring Kildare on their journey to the same semi-final. Not that they intend stopping there either.

In any case, it was interesting that when this question was put to Danny Hughes – Down’s long-serving and hugely versatile forward – he hesitated, and not just momentarily.

Anyone who knows or has ever spoken with Hughes would understand he is a man rarely lost for words; the sort of outgoing personality that seems to becoming rarer in Gaelic games these days.

But in trying to define McCartan’s influence, or even pinpoint part of it, Hughes had to think. The problem, evidently, is that it’s no one thing, but rather a broad and possibly complex range of things.

“One thing he has brought is continuity of selection,” started Hughes. “He could have maybe changed a lot of things after the Tyrone defeat, but he stuck with it and, from a player’s point of view, that is good man management.

“But for me, it felt like deja vu, losing to Tyrone again. We set out to win an Ulster title, and it didn’t happen. We felt we needed to win one before we could progress which was logical enough.

“But it was James, and the backroom team, who lifted us up as players. And sometimes you learn more from defeats than victories, and that was certainly the case there. We learned a great deal from it, with the help of the management.

“Like the first 20 minutes against Tyrone was the best we played all year and that includes against Kerry or anybody else. We had a poor second half. We rectified that in the qualifiers. Taking a wee bit of ownership of the whole thing helps.”

There are the more obvious influences under McCartan, such as the firmer introduction of new players such as Marty Clarke, and also Kalum King, Danny McArdle, Mark Poland and Conor Garvey.

But Hughes also pays tribute to the previous managements too, and the continuity that McCartan has overseen – including the continued presence and input of renowned trainer Paddy Tally.

“We were a bit unlucky at stages in Paddy O’Rourke’s reign. I know that myself and a lot of the other lads who played under Paddy have great respect for the guy and we will always be thankful for what he done for us.

“That was carried on again by Ross (Carr) and he deserves a great deal of credit too for what he did. He brought us on again, and he helped to take Marty Clarke home as well.

“With James now, and the backroom coming in, the county board have to take a bit of the credit as well.

“The continuity we have had with Paddy Tally as well can’t be sneezed at because he knows us from Paddy (O’Rourke’s) last year. It was a brave move by the county board to keep Paddy there.”

McCartan has played no small part either in convincing the more seasoned players such as Hughes, Benny Coulter, and others, that they still have a key role to play.

“There were times when you would have to look at yourself and admit you hadn’t delivered,” admits Hughes.

“There were low points down the years, but I’m sure if you ask James, he will say that he had low points too. You only get very few successes in any intercounty career bar the likes of Kerry and Tyrone who have had a number of them. It is hard to take.

“But when you look at ’91 and ’94 (Down’s All-Ireland winning years), football is just bred into you, and they were massive lifts for everyone in the county.

“So from a young age you had heroes to look up to from Mickey Linden and James McCartan, Ross Carr and Conor Deegan, Greg Blaney, boys like that.

“So now we’ve a good chance to go to a final, and that’s the only way I am looking at it. It’s a semi-final and you can’t really look beyond that.

“We didn’t expect to be here. It’s only one game and a massive, massive test. It is a big ask, too, with the way Kildare are playing.”