Tyrone's Aoibhinn McHugh relishing Down challenge in All-Ireland Intermediate semis

While she is now one of the more experienced players in the set-up, Tyrone captain Aoibhinn McHugh was still in the developmental stage of her inter-county career when the Red Hands last found themselves preparing for a TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final.

St Tiernach's Park in Clones is the venue on Sunday afternoon (throw-in 2pm) as Tyrone take on provincial rivals Down for the right to compete for the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup in Croke Park on 4 August. Six years ago, McHugh was a squad member when the Ulster side overcame Sligo in an intermediate semi-final bout that was held in Ballyshannon.

She was also part of the panel 12 months earlier when Tyrone defeated the same county in the last-four of the second-tier competition and though they eventually fell short to Tipperary in that year’s Intermediate showpiece, the Red Hands made amends in 2018 with a superb final win over Meath at GAA HQ. Still a teenager at the time (she was the skipper when Tyrone won an Ulster minor title in 2017) McHugh acknowledges being part of this successful group gave her a sense of what to expect at the adult grade of county football.

"It was a great experience and a lovely way to join the panel. I think it showed all the younger girls at the time, who are now a bit older, just what it takes to win an All-Ireland. Just how much it takes and just how harsh championship football can be," McHugh said.

"That was a really, really great experience and Tyrone ladies had some brilliant footballers as well that you just really looked up to as a young player coming through."

Given she was an unused substitute for those intermediate deciders of 2017 and 2018, it wasn’t until Tyrone’s Lidl National Football League Division 2