DONEGAL ALL-IRELAND winner Mark McHugh says the best quality that manager Jim McGuinness brings to a team is the “air of confidence and invincibility” he imparts to players.

McGuinness famously guided Donegal to All-Ireland glory in 2012, with McHugh playing half-forward on a team who emerged as unlikely Sam Maguire contenders the previous year. Donegal returned to the All-Ireland final two years later again under McGuinness but have struggled in the intervening years during his absence.

The Glenties man returned to the helm at the outset of this season and oversaw a revival which saw Donegal crowned Ulster champions after extra-time and penalties against Armagh after being dumped out of the competition last year by Down. They also topped their group in the All-Ireland stages before accounting for Louth in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

They now face a Galway side who caused the upset of the season by dethroning defending champions Dublin in the quarter-finals. McHugh is familiar the area having joined the Corofin team as a coach this year, noting that he has enjoyed the “banter for the last week” in the run-up to the game.

“Jim McGuinness’ biggest strength in my view is that air of confidence and invincibility,” McHugh says when asked about the impact McGuinness makes on teams. “It’s a strange feeling but you go out on a football field and you just feel invincible.

“You could pick the best 15 footballers of the last 20 years and put them in a team against Jim McGuinness’s side but if I’m on his team I’ll still think that I’m going to win that game easy. That’s an almighty feeling.

“I’ve obviously lost games with Jim McGuinness but you’re thinking after ‘How the hell did we lose that? We just didn’t do A, B or C. But when he sets out a plan and you follow it, you’re thinking ‘There’s no way we can lose this match’ and when you go to shake your opponent’s hand at the start, you know you’re going to beat him.

Structures continue to be a divisive topic in the GAA with more potential tweaks to the championship currently being explored. McHugh feels there is an excessive number of games in the current format, adding that more “build-up” is needed to generate excitement for the All-Ireland semi-finals.

“At the start of the year you’re buzzing for the championship and you’re listening to the media and podcasts on a Monday or Tuesday morning but I stopped listening because it was nearly the same stuff every week.

“There is big hype in Donegal obviously, but there is just something missing.” 

Mark McHugh was speaking at the AIB launch of the Volunteer VIP competition giving GAA club volunteers across Ireland a chance to win an exclusive match day experience on the morning of the All-Ireland SFC final on July 28.

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