PAIN coursed through his body with every step and a hot sweat formed on his forehead as Blaine Hughes followed the Artane Band around Croke Park.
He’d sat out the previous season with Armagh, then won his place back and conceded just three goals as the Orchardmen swept to the All-Ireland final.
But now he might miss the biggest game of his life!
An accidental collision with a team-mate during the All-Ireland final warm-up almost ruled Hughes out of the Sam Maguire decider. Just minutes before the throw-in, he tore ligaments in his right knee. The injury has ruled him out of the club championship but he soldiered on against Galway.
“Joe McElroy ran into me in the warm-up and I tore the ACL in my right knee – my kicking leg,” he explained.
“I basically had to call my warm-up off because I couldn’t really jump or push off. I was walking around in the parade thinking I wasn’t going to play.
“The physio and the backroom team sorted me out once we got out of the parade. I went and got the knee strapped up and got a few pain-killers into me. I was in agony for the first half and it was more the adrenaline keeping me going, but the pain-killers kicked in by half-time.
“I hit my first kickout to Aaron McKay and it went through his legs. I was hobbling about and he was shouting at me and I was thinking: ‘I can’t really kick the ball out here’.”
For years he’d practiced kickouts with his left foot. Hughes is naturally right-footed but he worked on his weaker side just in case a day came when he needed it and that day was the biggest one of his career.
That day was July 28th, 2024.
“I told Aaron to stand on my right-hand-side so I kicked most of the kickouts in the first half with my left foot,” Hughes explained.
“Thank God I had been practising with my left foot for a few years. I have been constantly practising – I never thought I would have needed it and then, on the biggest day, I needed it.
“I was just happy to get through the game – I was delighted and thank God we won.”
Hughes and 16 of his All-Ireland-winning team-mates were back at their old school – St Paul’s Bessbrook – last week with the Sam Maguire. It’s a reminder of how young players often develop at their own pace that in his early years at the school, the Carrickcruppen clubman wouldn’t necessarily have been viewed as an All-Ireland winner of the future.
“I played outfield when I came to St Paul’s,” Hughes explained.
“I was small for my age and I didn’t play much, I didn’t start for any of the teams until MacLarnon in fifth year. I was on the bench and I came on the odd time to play 15-20 minutes at corner-forward.
“I had to keep going to the trials and hanging in there – there was many a time I was gutted to be left out of teams because I love football. I just wasn’t as developed as some of the other lads – Ciaron O’Hanlon was probably three times the size of me at that age!
“I got a bit of a growth-spurt around fifth year and I jumped into nets in one game for Carrickcruppen U16s against Shane O’Neill’s (a fierce Camlough derby) and I ended up saving a penalty.
“Our regular ‘keeper was injured and our manager got me to stay in nets for the rest of the year and then John Rafferty (St Paul’s coach) asked me: ‘Would you do nets for St Paul’s in fifth year?’ I said: ‘Yeah, sure I’ll give it a go’.
“Once you start playing a bit more the confidence grows and from there I got called up to the Armagh minors and that was it – I played in nets right the way through to senior level although I still play outfield for the club a lot now. If I had my way, I’d be outfield all the time but goalkeeping is a lot more attractive for young people now.
“In my day it wasn’t attractive, you were stuck there hitting kickouts, but now you can be involved in the game.”
ETHAN Rafferty switched from his midfield/full-forward role to become a marauding goalkeeper and Hughes found himself on the bench with Armagh for much of the 2022 season. With his H&H Fitness business then in its infancy, Hughes decided to take the 2023 season out but returned for the 2024 campaign with his enthusiasm restored.
“Myself and Jemar (Hall) had set up a new business and I found that it was impacting me negatively trying to push on the business and play for Armagh as well,” he explained.
“I had to be all-in or not in. I took the year out to focus on the business and I got everything set in place. The year I was out, I saw the boys running out at Croke Park and all and I missed it massively.
“So I rang Kieran to see if I could come back onto the panel and, lucky enough, he took me back. I was nervous! I was waiting for a pie in the face!
“But he had said the door was always open when I left and he told me: ‘It’s between you and Ethan to push for the spot. I had to go into the trial group when I went back and earn my place in the squad and then with Ethan unfortunately getting injured playing for the Grange I got my chance and it was up to me to keep my spot.”
Hughes joined 2012 MacLarnon Cup-winning team-mates Aaron McKay, Greg McCabe, Aidan Nugent, Connaire Mackin, Ciaron O’Hanlon and Hall when they triumphantly returned to their alma mater with the Sam Maguire last week.
“The amount of footballers St Paul’s have produced right through the years and still today is unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s great for us to come back to the school and see the buzz. When we were here, we idolised Stevie McDonnell, Oisin McConville and all the boys from 2002 and now we’re coming back with the Sam Maguire. It’s spine-tingling for us to see how much it means to all the kids and how much they love it.”
