Hughes expecting tough test against Donnelly's St Eunan's

Kieran Hughes of Scotstown and Patrick McLarnon of Magherafelt ©INPHO/Andrew Paton

Scotstown midfielder Kieran Hughes is under no illusions about the challenge awaiting his side when they face St Eunan’s in the Ulster club SFC semi-final on Saturday week, with former manager Kieran Donnelly now at the helm of the Donegal champions.

Donnelly enjoyed a successful spell with Scotstown, guiding them to consecutive Monaghan senior titles before departing to take charge of Fermanagh for four seasons. He is now plotting against his former club after St Eunan’s booked their semi-final place with victory over Erne Gaels.

Hughes watched on as Scotstown edged past Magherafelt on Sunday and believes Donnelly will have taken plenty from the performance, having played a key role in the club’s recent success.

The Monaghan champions lost the 2018 Ulster final to Gaoth Dobhair by a single point before eventually landing the provincial title with an extra-time win over Kilcoo.

“We lost an Ulster final with the bounce of a ball in Healy Park that night,” Hughes is quoted saying by BelfastLive.co.uk.

“We'd always keep looking back on it – it's easy to look back on it with a smile on your face now because you won last year, but that haunted me for a long time.

“Kieran (Donnelly) was very diligent in the way we always set up and he loved the kicking style of football as well, so we appreciated everything he did for us, him and Feargal Quinn.

“He's got that St Eunan’s team flying at the moment, and they'll have no fear of watching that today with the way the scoreline finished out.

“Now we'll just have to get bodies back on the field in a couple of weeks' time and St Eunan’s. They’d have had a good look at that and seen weaknesses and strengths in us."