Red Hughs hoping to bridge a 43-year gap in search of an IFC final spot

Red Hughs are looking to make a first Intermediate Football Championship final for 43 years this weekend when they take on Naomh Columba.

The Cross/Killygordon men have been towards the bottom half of the Intermediate championship since winning the Donegal and Ulster Junior titles in 2018, but have never been properly threatened with relegation since their return.

And they have been building in recent years, losing out in the quarter-finals to both eventual winners in Downings (2023) and Termon (2024).

But they got over that hurdle this year with a 2-8 to 1-9 win over Bundoran, and they are into new territory with a semi-final up ahead.

“We’re looking forward to the weekend, it has been a long time since Red Hughs made the Intermediate semi-finals,” manager Darren O’Leary said.

“It’s unbelievable standing there after the game with all the supporters clapping the boys off, and it shows how much it means to the club and community itself.

“I was chatting to the chairman, and he was saying it could be nearly 40 years since they played in an Intermediate semi-final.

“Everything is going well at the moment with the club, the ladies are in the semi-final, the minors are going well, and there are a couple of county minors coming through there.”

Red Hughs were promoted from Division 3 during the league and were only defeated by Burt in the league and Milford in the championship so far this year.

The returning county panellists, Stephen McMenamin and Jonny Carlin, along with Jack Gillespie, coming back for the championship, having been studying in England, has been a huge boost to their side.

“We used up to 28/29 players in the league without Stephen and Jonny. Jack Gillespie was missing for a good part of the season, so when you bring them lads back in, it lifts the whole team.

“There hasn’t been an easy game in this Intermediate. I was chatting to the other (Red Hughs) coaches, Damien Stewart and Mark O’Sullivan, about it, and we’d played four Division 2 teams that were or are either Division 1 or Senior Championship in recent years in Cloughaneely, Naomh Muire, Milford and Bundoran.

“It has been tough week to week, and we probably just took our eye off the ball against Milford, but they are good opposition, and it has been good.

“We’ve been playing well as a whole. The three boys in the middle lift the whole thing, but you can start from the back from Luke Kelly to Jason Callaghan and Shane Gallagher, then the whole way up.

“They’ve all gelled together and bought into what we want to do and everyone has been putting in a big shift.”

It’ll be their sternest test this weekend however, as they travel to Fr Tierney Park to face Naomh Columba.

The Glen men were relegated from Division 1, but that experience seems to have stood to them, and they have been impressive in their championship so far.

Winning by double digits in all four group matches, against the same four teams Red Hughs met, they topped the table before looking comfortable against Buncrana at half-time as they led by nine at one period in the second half.

The Inishowen side fought back and levelled the game coming towards added time, but Brendan Doherty’s men hit 1-2 late on to win the contest.

“We’re into the semi-final and it’s all about trying to get over the line this weekend against what is a very good Naomh Columba team.

"Shane Callaghan, you have who was with the county Under-20s in the full forward line, (Kevin) McNern and Aaron Doherty and all these boys of quality. They’ve been knocking on the door the last five or six years, and if they haven’t been beaten in the final, they’ve got to the semi-final, so they have been unlucky not to win it.

“We’ll have a really tough test, but we expect that at the semi-final stage, we’ll get our homework done and give it our all, and see where it takes us.

“It’ll not be easy because we’re playing the top form team in the Intermediate and nearly in Donegal, so we’ll get our homework done this week, and we’ll look forward to it. It’s brilliant to be there.”