Past experiences key in Scotstown win - Hughes

At 38 years of age, Darren Hughes has done a lot in his football career, but the Scotstown veteran is thrilled to have another opportunity to win an Ulster club title following Sunday's epic semi-final win over Newbridge.

Hughes stroked home the winning penalty in the shootout after the game finished 2-20 apiece after extra-time, joking "I wanted to hit the first one and get it out of the road", but was simply relieved to have come out on the right side.

Leading by 10 early in the second half and then by nine with 15 to go, it seemed Scotstown were well on their way to a return to the final for the first time since 2023, but Newbridge forced extra-time and then penalties with Conor McAteer twice finding equalisers.

However, they held their nerve, converting all four of their spot-kicks with Newbridge missing their final two as Scotstown emerged 4-2 winners.

"A couple of times we could have lost it, but we've been around the block this year, going to extra-time in our club championship and have been here before in the Ulster Club against Trillick a couple of years ago," Hughes told BBC Sport NI.

"We just tried to call on those experiences, reset and go again. It took penalties but thankfully we got over it.

"We probably let them back into it, but credit to them, they could maybe have pinched it if there was another minute or two at the end, but thankfully we will be back here in two weeks."

Scotstown will now face Kilcoo in the final on Saturday, 13 December, whom they lost heavily to in last year's semi-final after edging the Magpies in 2023.

A first Ulster title since 1989 is on offer for the Monaghan club, but Hughes is aware of the challenge they will face.

"We've had plenty of good days and plenty of bad days, so it's great to be able to look forward to the final against Kilcoo," he added.

"We didn't feel as though we did ourselves justice last year when they steamrolled us.

"The year before we won by a point but the biggest difference between us and them is they know how to win an Ulster club, so there's a lot of work to do over the next two weeks."

'Nowhere else I'd rather be than Scotstown' - Beggan

Scotstown goalkeeper Rory Beggan also scored in the shootout, while making a vital save from Sean Young.

It could have been different had Beggan been drafted by an NFL franchise last year when part of the International Player Pathway, but one member of that group, Charlie Smyth, was getting set for his debut with the New Orleans Saints as Beggan was performing his heroics in the Athletic Grounds.

Despite the contrast in surroundings, Beggan is exactly where he wants to be and hopes the 2025 final will bring better fortunes than the defeats to Crossmaglen and Gaoth Dobhair after extra-time in 2015 and 2018, plus the narrow reverse to Glen two years ago.

"He [Smyth] is a massive fan of the sport whereas it was a pipe dream for me. Hopefully this will set him up for a long time in the sport to represent Ireland," Beggan told BBC Sport NI's Thomas Niblock.

"For me, I'm loving representing my club. If it's hailstones coming down, so long as we come out on the right side of the result I'm delighted.

"We want to win this competition and have had near misses in '15, '18 and '23. It's a clean slate this year and I'm looking forward to going into battle again."