Monaghan star’s honest revelations on how he treated college is a real eye-opener

College, the best days of your lives.

When you're in secondary school, the light at the end of the tunnel was always college. It keeps many pupils grounded because they've heard such great things about the life-changing experience that college is. An older sibling or a cousin always passed on their stories from college, and they would have half of the local secondary school dying to get out of the place. It keeps secondary school pupils motivated. They all want to get to the best college, where the best craic is, or where they've good facilities, or for some a good GAA team. Top level GAA players are a unique breed of people, their lives revolve around the game, and for them, it always has been the be-all and end-all. These lads do everything they can to further their GAA careers, and this can mean securing a place in a good college with the aim of playing Sigerson or Fitzgibbon level GAA. For Kieran Hughes, it was Sigerson Cup in the University of Ulster Jordanstown. GAA players are similar people, they have similar mentalities. They have that bit of madness inside them that drives them on to work hard and succeed, and they also have that bit of madness that loves a bit of devilment, a bit of craic.Playing on a college GAA team is one of the best ways to experience this environment. You live with your team-mates, you hang out together, you socialise together. Monaghan footballer Kieran Hughes felt college was a great way to educate himself on the ways of the world. You explore yourself in college, you learn about yourself and other people.

"I enjoyed the social aspect and being able to get away from home...Just to get to be streetwise and get to know what’s going on out there in the bigger cities, and that’s one thing I’ve taken out of the college scene."

Like many GAA players, his main priority in college wasn't to learn. When you're a young lad going into college, that's the furthest thing from your mind. His intention was to play football. "I took the piss when it came to the college, myself and the books never got on. I could never multitask the football and the books, it just wasn't for me," said the Scotstown man in an interview with AIB GAA. Even though you might do the bare minimum, college days really are the best days of your lives if you want them to be, and that's exactly how it was for the Monaghan man.

"It never will be me, but I’ll never regret it ever! It was the best days of my life in Jordanstown. We just wanted to do enough to get through, but have our bit of craic and a bit of downtime from the football field."

Hughes will start in his new role of midfield for Monaghan in their qualifier clash with Carlow on Sunday, with the Farney men aiming to avoid a similar shock to what they experienced last year against Longford.