Ever see that cartoon, Road Runner?
He treads lightly, constantly alert, constantly in a state of readiness before exploding so much so that his leg motion is no longer visible to the naked eye and, soon, Road Runner is travelling faster than the speed of light. Honest to God, it’s almost like Ryan McHugh when he gets going.
The Donegal gem isn’t just so fast and so frighteningly direct, but he’s clever. He’s calculated. He’s almost psychopathic in the way he prowls around at the edge of danger before plunging into madness and striking without hesitation or discrimination.
He waits and he waits for the right moment every time and as soon as he decides whenever that time has come, he wreaks bloody chaos.
His goals against Dublin in 2014 are almost immortal at this stage.
On two separate occasions, the Donegal sweeper scaled the length of Croke Park to beat Stephen Cluxton. Either he slipped under the radar with measured, stealthy brilliance or he just struck too quickly and too suddenly for anyone to do anything about it but he got to the destination like he always does – A to B – and he was deadly when he was in position to strike.
Back in the Donegal club championship, the support play, the late running, it’s all as potent as ever.
Kilcar barged their way past Réalt na Mara and into the senior semi-final on Sunday and it was the inter-county threat of Paddy McBrearty and Ryan McHugh who led them there with a thumping 1-20 to 1-9 victory.
Club captain Paddy McBrearty was man of the match on the day and it was his drilling solo run which brought about the goal for Ryan McHugh – but only because McHugh followed in.
Kilcar turn the ball over and this is the state of play.
McBrearty is the furthest man forward and he has the ball. He’s clear to go through and kick a point but there’s always more on offer when Ryan McHugh is around and, when most club players could hold their hands up and admit that they’d sit back and watch too often when their main forward gets the ball, McHugh has probably never been guilty of that.
So he takes off and not in a half-hearted, lip service sort of way. He absolutely blazes a trail straight through the middle of the opposition defence and screams for the ball off McBrearty.
He darts over 50 metres without possession just to get the ball in the small square.
It helped that the full forward was able to draw three different defenders so McHugh could exploit the space but watch this masterpiece from the two of them.
GOAL Kilcar!
09: Kilcar 1-02 Realt Na Mara 0-00. Ryan McHugh with the opening goal here in MacCumhail Park. #ClubChampionships #DonegalGAA pic.twitter.com/pPXk9Z2Sw7— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 10, 2017
Even when it looked like McHugh had no business getting involved in that attack, he forced his way into the reckoning and no-one was able to pick him up.
He didn’t leave McBrearty to do it all himself and, yet again, he went streaming through to palm another goal home.
Help out your team mates.
