'Football saved me when I thought my life was at an end'

Former Leitrim goalkeeper Martin McHugh says that Gaelic football saved his life at a time when he thought his days were coming to an end.

McHugh was in goal when John O'Mahony’s side famously triumphed in the 1994 Connacht SFC title and now, at 52, he is still playing club football.

It has been a long and winding road since that landmark win.

Fifteen years on from that famous Nestor Cup victory, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

It was an arduous route back. He underwent two operations and three months of intense chemotherapy to recover, losing all his hair and suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.

McHugh admits he found it extremely tough.

In 2015, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer – a diagnosis that was thankfully made early. A few months later he had another operation to remove his prostate.

"Football is my oxygen and my drug," he says, "and it saved me when I thought my life was going to end. Simple as that.

"It gave me so much discipline to look after myself and if I didn’t have the GAA when I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2009, I probably would have died and would be pushing up daisies right now. It’s a scary thought but I think it’s the truth."

McHugh is still playing football for Aughnasheelin and will soon release his life story entitled, 'Born to Save’ co-written by GAA journalist Jason Byrne.

The book is a compelling love story centred around the GAA, his life and family and his experiences of working at Sligo General Hospital as a care assistant over the past two years, working in the frontline in the fight against Covid-19.

This was what was going to keep me alive. I had to live for. I got a pep in my step going to coach a team I didn't even know well

One winter’s night during his recovery from