McHugh hopes for familiar tune at Harps
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Finn Harps striker Kevin McHugh believes the pressure on him to continue his magnificent goalscoring exploits for the club can only act as an incentive after he re-signed last week.
The 30-year-old put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the First Division outfit and Harps followers will hope to see a continuation of the form that saw him blast 122 goals in 248 games in his first spell at the club.
Harps concluded a six-week saga by announcing McHugh’s signature and he will join a young squad of locally-based players under the stewardship of former teammate, James Gallagher.
The experienced striker hopes to continue where he left off in Ballybofey and also believes that the expectancy on him to perform is a good thing.
"Every footballer needs a wee bit of pressure to perform. I don’t feel any extra pressure," said McHugh.
"This is probably the first time I’ve been involved with a Harps team that’s all from Donegal and it’s a great chance for the Donegal public to get out and support the team. There’s a couple of cracking young players there that I’ve trained with the last couple of nights. Obviously it’s not all about me so hopefully all the players that have come in can help the team move forward.
"When you go to a different team you might change the way that you play to fit that team, but you continue with the hard work you believed in growing up. Hard work is still number with me. Derry [City] and Linfield were different teams and I might’ve had to adapt to play there as that’s what the managers might’ve wanted, but I don’t think I’ve changed much as a player."
McHugh left Harps after their relegation from the Premier Division in 2005, signing for neighbours and rivals Derry City, with whom he enjoyed a memorable run in the Uefa Cup that eventually ended in a 2-0 aggregate defeat at the hands of Paris Saint Germain. Last January, he moved onto Irish League side Linfield, although injuries curtailed his involvement at Windsor Park.
Manager Gallagher, who also confirmed the club are on the verge of re-signing Jonathan Minnock, was delighted to have sealed the services of McHugh and is looking for an improvement from his squad as a whole.
"We’ve had to wait on Kevin for a good number of weeks now and it’s felt like a hundred phonecalls, but we’ve got our man," said Gallagher.
"Jonathan Minnock is someone who we’re just inches away from at the minute. When the chairman [Joey O’Leary] asked me what I was after, I told him that these are the players that we needed and these are the players that would make us competitive.
"We’re not looking for instant success here. We suffered in the past with that attitude of going gun-hoe for a year and if doesn’t work out then you’re back down and you’re left to pick up the pieces. I’m looking for a step in the right direction and an improvement. We want to be in the mix around the promotion spots and we must keep building. If we don’t improve then I’m not doing my jobs and the players aren’t doing their jobs."
Meanwhile, the club have signed Davitt Walsh and Matthew Crossan, who both previously played for Harps.
The 30-year-old put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the First Division outfit and Harps followers will hope to see a continuation of the form that saw him blast 122 goals in 248 games in his first spell at the club.
Harps concluded a six-week saga by announcing McHugh’s signature and he will join a young squad of locally-based players under the stewardship of former teammate, James Gallagher.
The experienced striker hopes to continue where he left off in Ballybofey and also believes that the expectancy on him to perform is a good thing.
"Every footballer needs a wee bit of pressure to perform. I don’t feel any extra pressure," said McHugh.
"This is probably the first time I’ve been involved with a Harps team that’s all from Donegal and it’s a great chance for the Donegal public to get out and support the team. There’s a couple of cracking young players there that I’ve trained with the last couple of nights. Obviously it’s not all about me so hopefully all the players that have come in can help the team move forward.
"When you go to a different team you might change the way that you play to fit that team, but you continue with the hard work you believed in growing up. Hard work is still number with me. Derry [City] and Linfield were different teams and I might’ve had to adapt to play there as that’s what the managers might’ve wanted, but I don’t think I’ve changed much as a player."
McHugh left Harps after their relegation from the Premier Division in 2005, signing for neighbours and rivals Derry City, with whom he enjoyed a memorable run in the Uefa Cup that eventually ended in a 2-0 aggregate defeat at the hands of Paris Saint Germain. Last January, he moved onto Irish League side Linfield, although injuries curtailed his involvement at Windsor Park.
Manager Gallagher, who also confirmed the club are on the verge of re-signing Jonathan Minnock, was delighted to have sealed the services of McHugh and is looking for an improvement from his squad as a whole.
"We’ve had to wait on Kevin for a good number of weeks now and it’s felt like a hundred phonecalls, but we’ve got our man," said Gallagher.
"Jonathan Minnock is someone who we’re just inches away from at the minute. When the chairman [Joey O’Leary] asked me what I was after, I told him that these are the players that we needed and these are the players that would make us competitive.
"We’re not looking for instant success here. We suffered in the past with that attitude of going gun-hoe for a year and if doesn’t work out then you’re back down and you’re left to pick up the pieces. I’m looking for a step in the right direction and an improvement. We want to be in the mix around the promotion spots and we must keep building. If we don’t improve then I’m not doing my jobs and the players aren’t doing their jobs."
Meanwhile, the club have signed Davitt Walsh and Matthew Crossan, who both previously played for Harps.
