Donegal have suffered a fresh blow with the news that Ryan McHugh has withdrawn from the county panel.
The 28-year-old has apparently decided to take up a work opportunity overseas which will rule him out of interim manager Aidan O’Rourke’s plans for the upcoming Championship, though he has been nursing a leg injury of late in any event.
“I have got a job offer to go travelling for a few months and was something I couldn’t turn down,” McHugh told Donegal Daily.
“The fact is that I’m injured and couldn’t play for another five or six weeks anyway.”
Having lost former captain Michael Murphy to retirement in the close season and with new skipper Paddy McBrearty recovering from a serious hamstring injury, McHugh’s departure means that Donegal are now without three of their most influential players from the last decade or so, though numerous other players were sidelined during the League as they suffered relegation from Division One.
Flying wing-back McHugh came into the panel in 2013 and has won three Ulster titles and two All Stars, as well being nominated on three other occasions and was Young Footballer of the Year in 2014.
Good news has been scarce for Donegal of late with O’Rourke installed as manager for the rest of the season after Paddy Carr’s resignation last month just before the team’s relegation was confirmed.
The county board has also come under fire following the resignation of Karl Lacey as head of the underage academy, with all of the coaches joining him in solidarity.
A Croke Park team led by GAA director general Tom Ryan is currently carrying out a review into affairs in the county.
The senior footballers open their Ulster Championship campaign with a quarter-final against Down in Newry on April 23.
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