Ryan McHugh keen for final replays over shootouts after epic Ulster decider despite Donegal resurgence

Donegal might have ended a five-year wait to reclaim the Ulster football title via a penalty shootout but Ryan McHugh would prefer other means of deciding epic battles like the one they had with Armagh in Clones on Sunday.

It was the second year in a row that the Anglo-Celt Cup was handed out after the tension of a shootout and while Jim McGuinness' Donegal were able to bask in the sense of relief and joy at the final whistle, McHugh feels the lottery of penalties is harsh on the losing team, which was the Orchard County, also for the second year in a row.

The 30-year-old has been a key part of McGuinness' second coming with the Tír Chonaill men and, speaking after earning the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month award for April, McHugh said he is an advocate of final replays, if feasible within the increasingly condensed inter-county calendar.

"It's easy for me to say after a game that we've won that penalties is not the right decision but unfortunately I've been on the receiving end of a county final defeat in 2020 to Naomh Conaill, and I missed one that day myself," the Cill Chartha clubman told RTÉ Sport

"But I think if you can't separate [the teams], especially in a final, an Ulster final or an All-Ireland final - and I know the All-Ireland does go to a replay - there has to be a way that we can fit in a replay.

"The two teams, to be fair, give absolutely everything and you couldn't separate us after 90 minutes. I think both teams would have deserved a replay.

"But it's easy for me to say that. I'm not sitting down with the GAA master fixtures [plan], and trying to fit in weeks here and there. I can understand the headaches that come with that.

"Listen, it was a phenomenal way for us to win it. It's unbelievable being on