Hughes says farewell after his tenure with Monaghan

By Shaun Casey

The dream for any competitive GAA person, young or old, is to get to Croke Park. Once you are there, you want to win. When it’s an All-Ireland final, then victory is the only thing that matters.

Arthur Hughes was fortunate enough to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand back in 2023, as manager of the Monaghan hurling team. A first-ever All-Ireland title for the county.

After five years serving the white and blue jersey, Hughes, an Armagh native, has decided to say goodbye to the Farney County and take a step back.

While that one day back in June of 2023 made everything worth it, there were plenty of tough days along the road as well. But Hughes enjoyed every step of the way.

“At the end of the day you play to win trophies and lift trophies and that was our only one. It was definitely the major highlight,” the Middletown clubman said.

“But you don’t stay in a job for five years if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, and I think more importantly, enjoy working with the players and the people that you have in with you.

“For the five years, Aidan Morgan was with me as lead coach. Jimmy Lacey was there for four of them, but he had to step back last year. Deaglan Crowe was involved for five years, and Mickey McCullough came in last year.

“It was always good craic, and it was good to work with different people.

“You pick things up from them and they pick things up from you, and they were a great bunch of lads.”

Monaghan didn’t push on after that 2023 success. The turnover of players hit them hard after a year in the Nickey Rackard Cup, and then they were sent straight back down to the Lory Meagher and couldn’t reach the same heights.

“Most people usually step away after three years or so, but after the three years we probably felt like we had more business to do,” Hughes added.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get back to the Lory Meagher Cup final, and we probably didn’t make the impact that we would have hoped in the Nickey Rackard.

“But when you’re a small county and you lose players, it’s tough. Back in 2023 when we won the Lory Meagher, we had 12 players that dropped off the panel after that.

“Some players maybe hang on until they get the big day and when they get that, they think it’s a good time to quit. Some boys retired and some went travelling and some just didn’t play county anymore.

“When you’re working with a small pool of players it’s tricky, but we soldiered on. We did think there was a Lory Meagher in the team again this year, but we lost a lot of players.

“We had Kevin Crawley away travelling, Declan Hughes, Colin Merrick, Conor Gernon the same. Thomas Hughes was in with the senior footballers and James Slevin and Shane Slevin were in and out of the county football squad.

“When you take all of those men out of it, it’s difficult. Fair play to Monaghan, they don’t look for outside players from other counties to come in so you’re limited to what you have. At the same time, I stayed at it for five years because I enjoyed it.”

GLORY DAYS…The Lory Meagher win made up for a lot of tough times

Hughes doesn’t hold anything against those players, however. While Monaghan suffered in their absence, his stance has always been that you “have to go and enjoy life” and he wasn’t going to hold anyone back from doing that.

“The way things are with the split season now, there’s a very small window for players to maybe go travelling or do other things. If they see a chance, they do it and the boys have to live, and they have to go and enjoy life.

“You can’t stand in their way and when they are on their travels, you can’t expect them to follow a fitness programme or anything like that. You just have to hope that they come back in good shape.

“You’re more or less just playing catch up because the boys come back and miss preseason.

“They’re breaking down with injuries but you still have to let them live their lives because that’s the most important thing of all.”

But the Monaghan story is one that has been copied and pasted right around the country. Hughes’ native Armagh told a similar tale in 2026, losing a total of 19 players from the previous season.

It’s something the Limericks, Corks, Galways and Kilkennys of this world know nothing about. They don’t have that problem. With the weaker hurling counties however, operating at the bottom of the food chain, it’s a constant battle just to compete.

Hughes believes it’s all about starting from the ground up, but there’s no straightforward solution. “First and foremost, you need more young people with hurling sticks in their hands.

“Sean McDermott’s (in Monaghan) have started up a hurling team and it’s going well and Silverbridge in Armagh are doing the same.

“Those things have to be assisted, both in terms of people having knowledge of the game and financially. In saying that, the teams that are already there need a lot of support and more infrastructure and more games.

“In Monaghan, there’s 30 football teams and seven hurling teams. Armagh is the same, with 40 odd football teams and seven or eight hurling clubs. It’s hard to strike the balance and one shoe doesn’t fit all. It’s tricky but everybody has to be given the chance to improve. At the end of the day, if you put enough hurling sticks in young fellas’ hands, they’ll stick at it because it’s our national sport and it’s the best sport in the world.”

But the bigger clubs are feeling “the pinch” as well. Hughes is still coaching in the Middletown club, and he has witnessed first-hand the dwindling numbers within the club.

The GAA have established a Hurling Development Committee, chaired by Antrim man Terry Reilly, and they have plenty of work to do in the smaller counties.

“It’s great to see the green shoots growing but on the other hand, some of the stronger clubs are really finding the pinch.

“There isn’t a simple solution,” he added.

“Even in Middletown here, sports a numbers game and I know here we’re getting it tight with different age groups, in football and hurling so clubs are always going to feel the pinch, especially if hurling maybe isn’t the number one sport.

“Middletown’s my club so that’s the one I really know about. Being on the ground, numbers are just tight and that’s just the way things are. Football is maybe the same. It seems to be a nationwide thing that clubs aren’t as big as were.”

While Hughes has left the intercounty game, for now, he’ll still work away with the club and help develop the youngsters coming through their ranks.

“I have a farm and a wife and family that I’ll spend more time with now and I always have that. I’ll not walk away from hurling; I still was involved with the club and will be and that’ll be the focus for the time being.”