Had Eugene ‘Nudie’ Hughes ever harboured any doubts as to how he was regarded by his own people, a stroll along York Street in Castleblayney would have sufficed.
There, painted on the gable end of a two-storey building on the street where he was raised, is a mural of Hughes playing in the green and gold of his beloved Castleblayney Faughs.
A record of his achievements with both with club and county are listed at the bottom of the mural alongside a quote, “Wear your heart on your sleeve, Faughs forever”. The image, painted by artist Ciarán Dunlevy, was unveiled in October 2020, two years after Hughes had first been diagnosed with liver and colon cancer.
It takes a special person to get such veneration while still on top of the soil – and brings to mind the story of Mick O’Dwyer’s inclination to wave at the statue of himself in Waterville in the years before his death.
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Because one can also imagine Hughes, who was one of the most convivial and charismatic people in the GAA, giving himself a satirical little nod.
“He was a ‘Blayney man through and through,” says Castleblayney Faughs chairman Raymond McHugh.
“And he really loved the mural, even though he wouldn’t be boastful about it or anything like that, he loved it. A lot of people pass away and there are murals or statues put up afterwards but this was recognition when he was still alive.
“He loved the fact that he was recognised in his own town, beside his old house. It’s not just there to symbolise Nudie, but to symbolise the importance of Gaelic football in Castleblayney. And for Nudie to be that symbol, he really took great pride and pleasure in that.”
Hughes passed away on Monday at the age of 67.
Considered by many as his county’s greatest ever footballer, he won three Ulster senior football titles with Monaghan (1979, 1985, 1988), a National League crown in 1985 and three McKenna Cups. He also won nine county senior football championships and two provincial club crowns with Castleblayney, three county senior club hurling titles and collected three Railway Cup football medals with Ulster.
A genuine trailblazer, Hughes was the first Monaghan player to win an All Star – claiming his first as a corner back in 1979 before adding two more as a corner forward in 1985 and 1988. He is among a select group of players to have won All Stars both as a defender and a forward.
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In any conversation about Monaghan’s greatest ever player, only Conor McManus enters the debate as a challenger to Hughes for top billing.
Like Hughes, McManus is also a three-time All Star. Only 10 Farney players have won All Stars in the history of the scheme and earlier this year Monaghan GAA gathered all of those players together. A photo of the assembled 10 was taken and McManus found himself looking at that image on Monday afternoon.
“Nudie is front and centre,” says McManus. “It’s a lovely photo to have and in fairness the county board were possibly thinking ahead, so it’s great we got it done.”
By the time McManus was carrying the torch for Monaghan in the noughties, Hughes had remodelled himself as a match analyst and co-commentator for Northern Sound. Over the years, a friendship developed between the pair.
“The first thing I’d say about Nudie was that he was always positive,” says McManus. “That was the one thing that always struck me about him, his positivity.
“Particularly in the last few years, the one outstanding trait he had was that positivity. He didn’t want to be bogged down talking about his illness or sickness – his outlook was ‘get up and get on with it.’
“Honestly, he was just such a great character. When Nudie was in the room, you knew he was in the room.”
Hughes remained involved with his club throughout his life and was also active in several charitable causes and local community fundraisers.
“He was very generous with his time,” says McHugh.
“Look, if you mention ‘Blayney anywhere – the three names people will say back are Big Tom, Paddy Cole and Nudie Hughes. But for anybody that has any interest at all in Gaelic football, once you mention Castleblayney, they associate it with Nudie.
“The word legend is bandied about a lot but he was a legend, he was larger than life.”
When the Monaghan team of 2013 finally ended the county’s barren run in Ulster, it created new heroes for Farney fans. But McManus is in no doubt as to who was the face of Monaghan football in the years before that breakthrough.
“Nudie was the man in Monaghan. Even now you could still go anywhere in the country and people will want to talk about him. If you were chatting to any of the players from those great Kerry teams of the past, them boys would be telling you how good a footballer Nudie was. And how much craic he was too. Anybody who ever met him has a Nudie story. He was a special person.”
It’s not a bad way to be remembered.
