Legend McLaughlin lauds McHugh
Credit:
Finn Harps legend Con McLaughlin has praised current Harps striker
Kevin McHugh after the Killea man shot ahead of him into second in the
all-time goalscorers chart at Finn Park.
McHugh’s brace in the two-all draw with Monaghan United two weeks ago lifted him onto 140 goals - two ahead of McLaughlin’s 138. Although still someway off the 235 scored by the great Brendan Bradley, McHugh’s place among the pantheon of Harps greats is now sealed.
McLaughlin still holds the distinction of being the first Donegal man to score 100 goals in the League of Ireland. “That’s the only record I have left now, Kevin has beaten the other two I had!” McLaughlin said.
His 19 goals in the 1987/88 season was a First Division record - one he held until McHugh smashed that with 22 deadly strikes in the title-winning campaign of 2004. Since netting his 138th Harps goal in a 3-1 League Cup defeat at Sligo Rovers in August 1992, McLaughlin’s place in second place in the all-time charts has been secure. Great names have played in the Harps front-line since, with the likes of Johnny Speak, James Mulligan, Alan Doherty, Damien Whitehead and Conor Gethins have all had successful scoring sprees, but McHugh’s strike-rate has surpassed them all.
And McLaughlin believes that there’s plenty more in the Harps skipper this season. “It’s great to see him back at the club and he’s looking leaner, fitter and more hungry,” McLaughlin added. “Although I don’t think he’ll catch Brendan Bradley’s total, I wish him the best of luck and hopefully there are plenty more goals in him yet. I’d like to congratulate Kevin on what is a fantastic achievement. It’s amazing to score the 100 goals. Kevin now has 140 and if he were to get to 200 that would be sensational.”
On October 27th 1991, McLaughlin etched his name into Harps history with a penalty in a 5-2 defeat to eventual Division One winners Limerick marking his 100th goal in the club colours - seeing him become the first Donegal man to do so.
He said: “It was pure elation to say the least. You don’t think about it at the time as a player. You don’t think about it until later years until you retire. It doesn’t hit you until you retire and look back. I do wish that the goals I scored had brought Harps more success. I was playing in a time when money was very tight unfortunately.”
Ramelton man Con played for Swilly Rovers, playing on the first team at just 15, and he was on the Donegal Youth League winning side in 1978 that defeated Galway by four goals to nil in Butlins in the Interleague final, scoring twice in the decider, before signing for Harps. His first Harps goal was in October 1978 in a 3-1 win away to Cork Alberts.
That he would go on to become one of the club’s greatest goalscorers of all-time wasn’t evident, he admits, in the first few years of his career at Finn Park. He said: “Unfortunately for about the first ten years of my time at Harps I never got the chance to play at centre-forward - I was either out wide on the right or the left. Harps would have had Brendan Bradley, Hilary Carlyle and after those players like Davy Brown, Thomas Healy or John McDaid up front. I had very much a secondary role in those days.”
On Bradley, Con added: “Brendan was just exceptional. If Brendan hadn’t left for Lincoln City and then he left for Sligo he could have scored many more goals.”
It was twenty three years after his first when the 100th arrived in a 5-2 defeat to Limerick. “My 100th was actually a penalty down in Limerick. I didn’t realise it was my 100th until I read the paper the next week and Gerard McHugh had captured the goal on camera. “It’s nice now to look back on it. When you’re playing you don’t realise what you’re doing and you maybe don’t appreciate yourself at the time. When I was playing I just felt that I was part of a team and giving a contribution. Fifteen or twenty years later you kind of think ‘Jesus, I did ok!’”
McLaughlin is now a referee in the Donegal League and Ulster Senior League having taken up the whistle a few years ago. He has also played a handful of games for the Finn Harps Legends team and showed that he’d lost none of his goalscorer’s instinct.
On the current Harps team, McLaughlin feels that his successor in the charts McHugh is the central figure in the jigsaw and says his services must be retained.
He commented: “It’s vital to keep Kevin’s experience and they need to go out on a limb to keep him. Young boys will only come up if they have enthusiasm and Kevin’s experience is vital in the dressing room. “Kevin, like myself, started playing in a team that was fairly good. Kevin will have seen radical change in the team. I saw a lot of changes when I was at Harps, playing under a host of different managers and the team was continually changing.
“They system that they are playing with suits a goalscorer like Kevin - he’s playing up top with someone just behind him and the two players on each side of the midfield are getting down the line and putting crosses in. He’s lethal in the box. Give him a chance and he’ll put it away. That sort of talent is exceptional, just knowning where to be in the box and having that predatory instinct.
“It’s generally for wee pieces of class that centre forwards are known, not the 50-yard free-kicks. It’s about knowing what to do in the biggest games. I remember when Derry City first came to Finn Park, we were beaten 7-2. I scored the two Harps goals and I have always been happy about those goals. It was in front of a big crowd at Finn Park and that’s what it’s all about.”
Three games into the new season, Harps have two points on the board following two home draws against Limerick FC and Monaghan United. McLaughlin feels that under the regime of James Gallagher the club can take strides forward with the right support and structures.
“They’re a raw talent that needs nurtured and brought along. If they can keep the players they have and the structures that they have they will get better. Realistically, Harps have to follow the track they’re on and get the younger players the experience they are getting with a couple of more experienced players, like Kevin, in the side too. Long gone are the days of taking players in and giving them large amounts of money because down the years a lot of those players came in and didn’t do it for Harps. Locals, for example myself and Kevin McHugh, would have that wee bit more dedication to the club.”
McHugh’s brace in the two-all draw with Monaghan United two weeks ago lifted him onto 140 goals - two ahead of McLaughlin’s 138. Although still someway off the 235 scored by the great Brendan Bradley, McHugh’s place among the pantheon of Harps greats is now sealed.
McLaughlin still holds the distinction of being the first Donegal man to score 100 goals in the League of Ireland. “That’s the only record I have left now, Kevin has beaten the other two I had!” McLaughlin said.
His 19 goals in the 1987/88 season was a First Division record - one he held until McHugh smashed that with 22 deadly strikes in the title-winning campaign of 2004. Since netting his 138th Harps goal in a 3-1 League Cup defeat at Sligo Rovers in August 1992, McLaughlin’s place in second place in the all-time charts has been secure. Great names have played in the Harps front-line since, with the likes of Johnny Speak, James Mulligan, Alan Doherty, Damien Whitehead and Conor Gethins have all had successful scoring sprees, but McHugh’s strike-rate has surpassed them all.
And McLaughlin believes that there’s plenty more in the Harps skipper this season. “It’s great to see him back at the club and he’s looking leaner, fitter and more hungry,” McLaughlin added. “Although I don’t think he’ll catch Brendan Bradley’s total, I wish him the best of luck and hopefully there are plenty more goals in him yet. I’d like to congratulate Kevin on what is a fantastic achievement. It’s amazing to score the 100 goals. Kevin now has 140 and if he were to get to 200 that would be sensational.”
On October 27th 1991, McLaughlin etched his name into Harps history with a penalty in a 5-2 defeat to eventual Division One winners Limerick marking his 100th goal in the club colours - seeing him become the first Donegal man to do so.
He said: “It was pure elation to say the least. You don’t think about it at the time as a player. You don’t think about it until later years until you retire. It doesn’t hit you until you retire and look back. I do wish that the goals I scored had brought Harps more success. I was playing in a time when money was very tight unfortunately.”
Ramelton man Con played for Swilly Rovers, playing on the first team at just 15, and he was on the Donegal Youth League winning side in 1978 that defeated Galway by four goals to nil in Butlins in the Interleague final, scoring twice in the decider, before signing for Harps. His first Harps goal was in October 1978 in a 3-1 win away to Cork Alberts.
That he would go on to become one of the club’s greatest goalscorers of all-time wasn’t evident, he admits, in the first few years of his career at Finn Park. He said: “Unfortunately for about the first ten years of my time at Harps I never got the chance to play at centre-forward - I was either out wide on the right or the left. Harps would have had Brendan Bradley, Hilary Carlyle and after those players like Davy Brown, Thomas Healy or John McDaid up front. I had very much a secondary role in those days.”
On Bradley, Con added: “Brendan was just exceptional. If Brendan hadn’t left for Lincoln City and then he left for Sligo he could have scored many more goals.”
It was twenty three years after his first when the 100th arrived in a 5-2 defeat to Limerick. “My 100th was actually a penalty down in Limerick. I didn’t realise it was my 100th until I read the paper the next week and Gerard McHugh had captured the goal on camera. “It’s nice now to look back on it. When you’re playing you don’t realise what you’re doing and you maybe don’t appreciate yourself at the time. When I was playing I just felt that I was part of a team and giving a contribution. Fifteen or twenty years later you kind of think ‘Jesus, I did ok!’”
McLaughlin is now a referee in the Donegal League and Ulster Senior League having taken up the whistle a few years ago. He has also played a handful of games for the Finn Harps Legends team and showed that he’d lost none of his goalscorer’s instinct.
On the current Harps team, McLaughlin feels that his successor in the charts McHugh is the central figure in the jigsaw and says his services must be retained.
He commented: “It’s vital to keep Kevin’s experience and they need to go out on a limb to keep him. Young boys will only come up if they have enthusiasm and Kevin’s experience is vital in the dressing room. “Kevin, like myself, started playing in a team that was fairly good. Kevin will have seen radical change in the team. I saw a lot of changes when I was at Harps, playing under a host of different managers and the team was continually changing.
“They system that they are playing with suits a goalscorer like Kevin - he’s playing up top with someone just behind him and the two players on each side of the midfield are getting down the line and putting crosses in. He’s lethal in the box. Give him a chance and he’ll put it away. That sort of talent is exceptional, just knowning where to be in the box and having that predatory instinct.
“It’s generally for wee pieces of class that centre forwards are known, not the 50-yard free-kicks. It’s about knowing what to do in the biggest games. I remember when Derry City first came to Finn Park, we were beaten 7-2. I scored the two Harps goals and I have always been happy about those goals. It was in front of a big crowd at Finn Park and that’s what it’s all about.”
Three games into the new season, Harps have two points on the board following two home draws against Limerick FC and Monaghan United. McLaughlin feels that under the regime of James Gallagher the club can take strides forward with the right support and structures.
“They’re a raw talent that needs nurtured and brought along. If they can keep the players they have and the structures that they have they will get better. Realistically, Harps have to follow the track they’re on and get the younger players the experience they are getting with a couple of more experienced players, like Kevin, in the side too. Long gone are the days of taking players in and giving them large amounts of money because down the years a lot of those players came in and didn’t do it for Harps. Locals, for example myself and Kevin McHugh, would have that wee bit more dedication to the club.”
About Chris McNulty
Chris McNulty is one of extratime's Northwest correspondents, covering Finn Harps and Derry City. Has worked as a sports writer with the Donegal News since 2007. View Full Profile