Monaghan GAA has paid tribute to footballing legend Eugene 'Nudie' Hughes following his death.
The three-time All-Star, considered by many to be Monaghan's greatest footballer, was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.
Nudie Hughes is widely regarded as one of Monaghan football’s greatest ever players. The county’s first All-Star winner in 1979 and picked up two further personal accolades in 1985 and 1989.
Hughes is one of only a small number of players to have been recognised in defence and attack; his first coming as a corner-back with the others coming as a corner-forward.
Those three All-Star winning years coincided with Monaghan winning the Ulster title while in 1985. Where, Nudie was also part of the team that won the National Football League.
Hughes picked up a Railway Cup medal in 1984 as part of Ulster’s winning side and also won two Ulster club football titles with Castleblaney Faughs.
In a touching tribute posted online, Monaghan GAA stated: "𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐀𝐀 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐄𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞 “𝐍𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞” 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬 — 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥-𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭.
"𝐍𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐍𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 — 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."
