Kevin McHugh: 'I can’t think of anyone we wouldn’t mind playing at home'

Kevin McHugh says his young Finn Harps side have little fear of the rigours of senior football.

Harps came back from 2-1 down on Friday night to defeat Kerry 4-2 at Finn Park, extending their unbeaten run to five.

McHugh toasted a first win since his appointment as manager with Dara McGuinness scoring twice and Gavin Hodgins and Max Hutchison also netting.

“It was a rollercoaster for anyone watching it,McHugh said.

“We went 1-0 up and deservedly so and we should have scored a second, which would have changed the whole shape of the game. We didn’t and we missed a couple of chances and Kerry went ahead. 

“They were two soft goals from our point of view. They could have been 3-1 up at half-time. We rallied half-time and there were a few words spoken, we changed a few things up. They came out and put in a serious shift. 

“We got the wee breaks, but we scored some fantastic goals. We had real danger and threat in those wide areas and the front areas. It was really positive in the end up.”

Josh Cullen and Gavin McAteer - two 16-year-olds - impressed for Harps and McHugh believes that others cane follow their lead.

The Harps boss said: “The two were superb and that is a huge plus to see young players coming up from the academy, taking a jersey and saying: ‘I want to play here’.

“Josh played at number six last week and he’s back at centre-back there. For a kid to be able to do that against really good Wexford and Kerry, fair play to him. He’s in there, eating pizza like nothing fazes him.”

Two other academy prospects, James McAteer and Daniel Cunningham, were included in the match day squad for the first time.

McHugh said: “Physically they’re getting themselves ready and they see what it takes to play at this level. You can have it upstairs, but you need the body to be physically able to handle it.

“They have to earn it. The likes of young Josh isn’t getting on there unless he’s putting it in week-in, week-out and night-in, night-out at training and show us that we can trust him. That didn’t happen overnight. He has been in since January and it’s building for 14-15 weeks for him to perform like that. 

“It takes more than ability to make it at this level.”

Sixth-placed Harps now face First Division leaders Dundalk at Oriel Park on Monday night.

It will be the Home form that will be crucial for the Donegal side. McHugh said: “I can’t think of anyone we wouldn’t mind playing at home. There is absolutely nobody. We are away to Dundalk, the out-and-out favourites, on Monday, but there is nothing between the teams. Everybody has two or three players who can hurt you. 

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“There will certainly be changes for Dundalk because we have a long bus journey to Cobh on Friday. The turnaround is very quick and we only have one session to get ready for Cobh. That’s what the squad is for and there is energy there.”