At 38 years of age, Darren Hughes has done a lot in his football career, but the Scotstown veteran is thrilled to have another opportunity to win an Ulster club title following Sunday’s epic semi-final win over Newbridge.
Hughes stroked home the winning penalty in the shootout after the game finished 2-20 apiece after extra-time, joking “I wanted to hit the first one and get it out of the road”, but was simply relieved to have come out on the right side.
Leading by 10 early in the second half and then by nine with 15 to go, it seemed Scotstown were well on their way to a return to the final for the first time since 2023, but Newbridge forced extra-time and then penalties with Conor McAteer twice finding equalisers.
However, they held their nerve, converting all four of their spot-kicks with Newbridge missing their final two as Scotstown emerged 4-2 winners.
“A couple of times we could have lost it, but we’ve been around the block this year, going to extra-time in our club championship and have been here before in the Ulster Club against Trillick a couple of years ago,” Hughes told BBC Sport NI.
“We just tried to call on those experiences, reset and go again. It took penalties but thankfully we got over it.
“We probably let them back into it, but credit to them, they could maybe have pinched it if there was another minute or two at the end, but thankfully we will be back here in two weeks.”
Scotstown will now face Kilcoo in the final on Saturday, 13 December, whom they lost heavily to in last year’s semi-final after edging the Magpies in 2023.
A first Ulster title since 1989 is on offer for the Monaghan club, but Hughes is aware of the challenge they will face.
“We’ve had plenty of good days and plenty of bad days, so it’s great to be able to look forward to the final against Kilcoo,” he added.
“We didn’t feel as though we did ourselves justice last year when they steamrolled us.
“The year before we won by a point but the biggest difference between us and them is they know how to win an Ulster club, so there’s a lot of work to do over the next two weeks.”