by Daire Walsh

While she is now one of the more experienced players in the set-up, Tyrone captain Aoibhinn McHugh was still in the developmental stage of her inter-county career when the Red Hands last found themselves preparing for a TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final.

St Tiernach’s Park in Clones is the venue tomorrow afternoon (throw-in 2pm) as Tyrone take on provincial rivals Down for the right to compete for the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup in Croke Park on August 4. Six years ago, McHugh was a squad member when the Ulster side overcame Sligo in an intermediate semi-final bout that was held in Ballyshannon.

She was also part of the panel 12 months earlier when Tyrone defeated the same county in the last-four of the second-tier competition and though they eventually fell short to Tipperary in that year’s Intermediate showpiece, the Red Hands made amends in 2018 with a superb final win over Meath at GAA HQ. Still a teenager at the time (she was the skipper when Tyrone won an Ulster minor title in 2017) McHugh acknowledges being part of this successful group gave her a sense of what to expect at the adult grade of county football.

“It was a great experience and a lovely way to join the panel. I think it showed all the younger girls at the time, who are now a bit older, just what it takes to win an All-Ireland. Just how much it takes and just how harsh championship football can be,” McHugh said.

“That was a really, really great experience and Tyrone ladies had some brilliant footballers as well that you just really looked up to as a young player coming through.”

Given she was an unused substitute for those intermediate deciders of 2017 and 2018, it wasn’t until Tyrone’s Lidl National Football League Division 2 decider against Kildare in April of this year that McHugh finally had a proper run-out in Croke Park. The Aghyaran star managed to kick a point from midfield, but the northerners ultimately lost out to the Lilywhites on a score of 2-9 to 0-12.

Yet by virtue of reaching the final, Tyrone had already secured promotion to Division 1 of the NFL for 2025 and it was an impressive run of seven unbeaten group games - five wins and two draws - that helped Sean O’Kane’s side to achieve this goal.

However, after Kildare got the better of them in the Division 2 showpiece, the Red Hand also suffered defeats at the hands of Monaghan in the semi-final of the TG4 Ulster Intermediate Football Championship and to Leitrim in Group 4 of the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship.

McHugh feels that her side have found it difficult to bring their springtime form into the summer months, but thanks to recent victories against Wicklow and Clare, they have kept themselves firmly in the shake-up for another final appearance in 2024.

“We’d a really good League campaign, we were really happy with it. It was a great start to the year, getting promotion and being in the Division 2 final. We have probably struggled to bring that into championship.

“That’s the main focus for us now, trying to find a bit of that league form again and consistency. We were quite disappointed with a couple of those defeats, but at the same time they were early enough in the championship and our goal was to learn from them. Hopefully we have.”

Having secured a passage to the knockout rounds of the intermediate championship with a 3-11 to 0-5 group stage win over Wicklow at O’Neill Park in Dungannon on June 9, last Sunday week (June 30) saw Tyrone claiming the scalp of 2023 runners-up Clare at the quarter-final stage of the competition in Ennis.

The home team had appeared to hold all the aces when quickfire goals from Laurie Ryan and Ailish Considine had them 2-4 to 0-4 in front at the interval, but Tyrone had other ideas. Three-pointers courtesy of Chloe McCaffrey and Aoife Horisk got the visitors back on level terms before the third-quarter had drawn to a close and they ultimately pushed on for a 2-8 to 2-7 victory.

Considering she has been on the receiving end of some narrow losses in the past - Leitrim had a point to spare over Tyrone in their group stage meeting in Ballinamore at the beginning of June - this was a triumph that McHugh savoured.

“We were delighted with our performance against Clare and getting over the line. It was a real tight game and one of those games it was nice to win in the end because it had been so tight. You were glad to hear the final whistle.

“We were quite disappointed at half-time to have conceded the two goals. The fact that they were back-to-back and the way we conceded them. I think half-time probably came at a good time for us and then it was just about getting out in the second half and trying to get back in the game. Thank God we were able to do that.”

Away from the football field, McHugh is currently being kept busy with her job as a trainee solicitor with the Belfast-based Baker McKenzie. Even though this can leave her with a sizable commute to and from training, it is something that she is relatively unfazed by.

“It’s definitely busy, but it’s nice to have something different. Having a career is obviously quite different to football because if football doesn’t go your way or something doesn’t go your way, you forget about it. You’re back on a Monday morning and that’s it.

“There’s a little bit of travelling, but you’re just used to it at this point and you’re just hoping it will be all worth it.”

Reaching an All-Ireland Intermediate final would certainly make everything worthwhile for McHugh and her Tyrone colleagues, but she also recognises that a Down side that have blossomed since winning last year’s All-Ireland Junior showpiece will be doing all they can to stand in their way.

“It’s the team that deserves it on the day, so we won’t be underestimating Down at all. They’re a big challenge for us on Sunday. At the same time, we’ll be looking forward to it because that is what you play football for and you want a challenge,” McHugh added.

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