Hughes wary of "great Donegal team"
July 18, 2014
Monaghan's Darren Hughes. INPHO
Monaghan accounted for Jim McGuinness' men in last year's decider and tamed them again in Croke Park in this year's NFL Division Two final but Hughes says those two results only tell half of the story:
"We went into an Ulster final against them last year and at that stage they were two-time Ulster champions and All-Ireland champions," the Scotstown clubman tells The Belfast Telegraph.
"Nobody was to know any different that we were going to beat them and what Mayo were going to do to them a few weeks later.
"It's a great Donegal team who have been in four Ulster finals in a row and have an All-Ireland medal in their back pocket.
"We played them this year in the league over in Letterkenny and we didn't win. It was only the league but a game we prepared well for and went to win and they played us off the pitch that day.
"It was an eye-opener for us and where we were at that stage in March. We got our act together after that and knew what we had to do.
"We played them in the league final then and I don't think that was a real reflection of them - I think they had one eye on Derry in the first round of the championship, and had come back from a tough training camp and I wouldn't read too much into the league final as it came into championship territory." Tweet
