IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO

McHugh hails the Murphy & McGuinness double act as he aims to make up for 2014 agony

- GARRY DOYLE

RYAN MCHUGH stood in the tunnel underneath the Hogan Stand and prayed his time in purgatory was about to end.

It is 11 years since it began, 12 days shy of when it might be over. Now, like then, Kerry are blocking his path through Gaelic football's pearly gates.

Way back in 2014, he was a 20 year old in his second inter-county season, convinced he was about to become the fourth member of the McHugh dynasty to grab an All-Ireland.

Not so. Kerry got lucky, Donegal got silver medals and McHugh got to sit at the breakfast table with his brother Mark, who had won it in 2012, and his father, Martin a winner alongside Ryan's Uncle James in 1992.

"It was a very difficult experience for me in 2014," admits McHugh. "There is no point lying. I have actually never watched the game back.

"I was 20 years of age at that time and at that time in my life, I assumed I was going to be in semifinals and in finals every year.

"But it took us until last year to even get back to an All-Ireland semifinal.

"Now that we have made it back to the final, we want to make the most of it because it could be another 11 years before we get back here again.

"The All-Ireland final is a big regret of mine in terms of my career, but otherwise, I have had a great career and this could be the cherry on top of it all.

"It is going to be massive. We are going to have to put in our best performance of the year as Kerry delivered unbelievable performances against Armagh and Tyrone.