McHugh willing to change his game to allay repeat concussions

RYAN McHUGH has accepted he may have to adapt his game after a season when he was twice forced him out for long periods because of concussion.

McHugh had to take eight weeks out at the end of the league after sustaining heavy blows against Dublin, Tyrone and Kildare that triggered a slight bleed on the brain.

And a further knock picked up against St Vincent’s while playing a challenge for his club Kilcar later in the year required another spell on the sidelines.

The double concussion is a concern that will, inevitably, force him to look at a style that regularly puts him into contact with bigger opponents. Donegal manager Declan Bonner has highlighted the nature of challenges McHugh has had to take as teams target his playmaking role and called for greater protection for him from referees.

McHugh cited the example of Johnny Sexton, who also had to take time out and subsequent measures to deal with a similar issue. “I don’t know the basics of rugby but from reading about him he said he changed the style of his tackling, the way he went in.

“It is something I can look at in the future. It is easy to say it sitting around the table but when you are in the heat of a Championship battle and the ball is there to be won, it’s another story,” said McHugh (right), speaking in Philadelphia where he’s part of the PwC GAA/GPA All-Star tour.

“It is something to look at along with different aspects of my game,” he accepted.

McHugh said his knowledge of concussion was limited prior to his initial experience of it but he was lucky that the Donegal team doctor Kevin Moran is one of the GAA’s leading experts on the issue.

“I actually didn’t get the symptoms until about two weeks later,” he said of his first concussion. “It happened at training, I just felt ill and dizzy. I went to Kevin and he pulled me out straight away. If Kevin wasn’t there, I could have trained on. So definitely the more education people have the better.

“It’s a strange injury because looking at somebody (with it), you don’t think there is anything wrong with them.

“It was tough. You have slight headaches and you know there is something wrong. After a week-and-a-half, you start to come round but the fear is if you pick up another one you can pick up serious injuries.”

Rest was the only treatment. “There’s nothing else you can really do. It’s not like when you break a leg, you come back and try to build it up in the gym. Rest is really all you can do, stay away from computers. That was what I was advised to do, difficult in this day and age but stuff like that.

“It is worrying but I didn’t really think about it. Maybe my parents might have thought more about it but I was that engrossed in trying just to get back and get myself ready for the next Donegal match.”

McHugh still went on to have a big season for Donegal, scoring two of their nine Championship goals and creating four more but his trademark palmed goal could be under threat because of the restriction on the number of consecutive handpasses.

“I don’t think those goals are going to come about too often any more. I don’t think there’s a need for the handpass (rule) anyway. Three handpasses is very small, they could up it a wee bit. Ulster football might be a bit different to down the country. There is probably more handpassing.”

He sees merit in a potential motion from his county to next year’s Congress that would limit the number of ‘Super 8’ games Dublin could play in Croke Park to one, believing the best chance to “topple” them could be on the road.

“As a player, don’t get me wrong, you want to be playing in Croke Park every opportunity you can. But to topple the Dubs, maybe you might have a better chance if you played them in Clones or somewhere like that.

“It’s something for the GAA to look at. I’m afraid I’m not fit to make decisions like that. But, definitely, if Donegal and Dublin were to play, we’d have a better chance of putting it up to them in Clones than Croke Park.”

McHugh is excited about the future of Donegal football and the addition of former Mayo boss Stephen Rochford and retention of Karl Lacey in the back room team.

“I was chatting with him (Rochford) and he’s hugely enthusiastic. I think there are good times in Donegal, we’ve got Karl Lacey back and other additions to the backroom team so it’s great. There are good footballers in Donegal, young exciting footballers coming through so it is a matter of trying to nurture them and take them through.”