BACK FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL
Showpiece is last slot in McHugh’s recovery after head horror KO
I couldn’t even watch TV or read anything
Athousand words would still have been inadequate to convey what the gruesome picture came to represent. Four-and-a-half months of physical and emotional pain. Feelings of anguish, uncertainty and inadequacy. the shiver down the spine whenever the thought of how much worse it could easily have been. and then the blessed relief when it was all over.
It was the 56th minute of the trip to Kilmarnock on august 6 last year that Carl Mchugh’s world turned upside down.
an accidental clash of heads with dean hawkshaw in his first league game for Motherwell left him dazed and confused on Rugby Park’s artificial surface. alarmingly, had it not been for the gash above his right eye he would have gritted his teeth and carried on.
It was only with hindsight that the possible repercussions of that course of action became clear.
Posting a picture of the horrific injury on social media that evening, his skull was clearly visible. But the delayed reaction to the trauma arrived in the post several days later.
‘I had the cut on my head but I felt I was fine,’ the Irishman recalled. ‘We played Celtic a few days later in the League Cup — we lost 5-0 — and it was just before that game that I started to feel bad and develop the symptoms.
‘It just nosedived from there and got worse and worse. the scary thing is that if my head had not been cut in the Kilmarnock game, then I would probably have stayed on.
‘You can put yourself in danger if you play on when you are concussed so the scar actually helped me, strange as it sounds.
‘I just started getting nausea, headaches, sensitivity to light and that sort of thing. I actually trained the day before the (Celtic) game and I just didn’t feel well but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was a strange thing.
‘It affected my sleeping, I couldn’t watch television or even read. Everything was causing the headaches and dizziness.
‘I don’t know what the consequences would have been if I had played on with it because you hear stories about how dangerous it can be.’
In the weeks and months that followed, reporters asking Mchugh’s then manager Mark McGhee for an update on his condition were met with a grimace and a worrying shake of the head.
Progress was slow to the point of at times being negligible.
Experts in dublin sought to give him reassurance but no one was willing to put a timescale on when — even if — the former Plymouth player would be spotted again in a Motherwell jersey.
‘I simply couldn’t do anything for months due to the headaches,’ Mchugh recalled. ‘the process was really, really slow.
‘then, when I came back here to work with the physios, I started doing little jogging sessions and everything was monitored.
‘But it probably took me another couple of months before I was able to train with the team.
‘It was just about increasing my levels of exercise without the symptoms I’d suffered from before coming back.
‘I did a lot of work on the treadmill and then I had to get properly fit because I hadn’t played or kicked a ball in almost five months. that was a very difficult time for me.
‘I never thought that back then that it would be possible to play in a final.
‘It was a worrying time and there were periods where I feared I might not be able to play again.
‘however, something like that gives you a sense of perspective. We all moan about little things but it makes you more appreciative for being able to get up in the morning and go into training. We’re very privileged to earn money from something we love doing. anyone who plays football for a living is lucky.’
the comeback came in a 2-1 win at Inverness three days after Christmas but the result masked the underlying problems at the club.
a red card sustained in a 3-0 home loss to hearts in February ensured Mchugh was suspended for the 7-2 loss at Pittodrie which proved to be McGhee’s final game in charge.
unable to help a man and a club who’d stood by him through thick and thin, he was consumed with guilt.
Frankly, in those dark days, the notion that he’d not only be part of a squad preparing for a cup final but be captain of it seemed absurd.
the transformation in fortunes, a direct consequence of stephen Robinson’s summer overhaul, has been startling.
‘this would be a good weekend to pay them back,’ Mchugh smiled. ‘I think everyone deserves it (success on sunday) because the last few seasons have been tough.
‘this season we have given the fans a team they can relate to. We might not win every week but we work really hard and leave everything out there.
‘We are an honest group of players who work for each other. It’s a privilege to play with them and I think the supporters respect that.’
they may start as outsiders but their thunderous display in the semi-final with Rangers suggests they are by no means no-hopers.
Mchugh offers additional experience of the big occasion.
Part of the Bradford side which defeated arsenal and aston Villa en route to losing to swansea in the 2013 English League Cup Final, his last game for Plymouth was a defeat to Wimbledon in the 2016 League two Play-off Final.
Given what happened three months later at Rugby Park, third time lucky has a certain ring to it.
‘I suppose it could be,’ he said. ‘It would be a massive achievement for me if I could win this time round. hopefully, I’ll have a little more luck.
‘as it happened, swansea were an excellent team and they were just too good for us on the day. Looking back on it now, just getting there was probably the achievement.
‘Beating arsenal, aston Villa and Wigan, who were in the top flight at the time, was our real success.
‘at the end of the day, however, you can only enjoy finals if you win them and we won’t be going to hampden on sunday just to make up the numbers. We definitely want to win this.
‘We can’t have any regrets afterwards. You don’t want to be on the losing side in any final and we’re hoping to do the business against Celtic.’