Club In his early career, McHugh admitted his club did not have many big games. He has also played as a
goalkeeper for his club.
Inter-county Underage McHugh did not play at minor level, what with the
Leaving Certificate and a broken
collar bone. He then played in the final of the
2010 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship, which Donegal (managed by
Jim McGuinness) narrowly lost to
Dublin (managed by
Jim Gavin), though McHugh scored one point in that match.
Senior Jim McGuinness: 2010–14 McHugh made his senior championship debut as a substitute against
Down in Ballybofey in 2010. Under Jim McGuinness, his former manager at under-21 level, McHugh was part of the team that won the
2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship, and played in the final against
Derry. McHugh returned to the Ulster SFC final in 2012 in his third campaign, winning a second Ulster SFC title and scoring 0–2 against
Down in the final. He was man of the match in the Ulster final. He then helped Donegal all the way to the
2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, in which he played. Donegal won. After that game he said, "The woman I'm going to have to marry is going to have to be very, very good to top this day off for me". McHugh sang his wee heart out at the homecoming when he joined in with Rory Gallagher on "
Jimmy's Winning Matches". McHugh won an All Star and attended the Football Tour of New York. McHugh missed Donegal's
2013 National Football League campaign with a
pelvis injury. He returned for the
2013 Ulster SFC campaign, but was forced off injured early in the final, after a collision with
Stephen Gollogly of
Monaghan, and was hospitalised as a result. He was ruled out for a month with the multiple injuries Gollogly's rough play gave him, including
concussion, a
perforated eardrum and a
quad muscle injury. McHugh made a substitute appearance against Monaghan in the
2014 National Football League Division 2 final at Croke Park. Three days later, it was confirmed that McHugh was one of four players to have left the Donegal county panel, less than a month before the county's
2014 Ulster SFC game against Derry. Later he admitted, "I just needed a break. I wasn't enjoying what I was doing and me being there didn't help the mood in the camp. And I thought its not good for me being here and it's probably not good for other players so I stepped away. Going away was a decision I made and I knew I wouldn't be in the team if I stepped away. I made that decision." He spent his time away from the team in New York. In his absence Donegal also qualified for a second All-Ireland SFC final in three years, with McHugh's brother
Ryan helping himself to two goals
against Dublin in the semi-final after being left to the bus by Mark, who sat by "and watched as he became a household name in one afternoon". Ahead of the final, McHugh the Elder admitted he was "looking forward to… rebuilding for next year of myself and the club championship, playing well and hopefully with Jim next year or whoever that may be and ask me back into the panel." He started the opening fixture of the
2015 National Football League at home to Derry. He also started the next game against Dublin at Croke Park, the third fixture against Cork in
Ballyshannon, the fourth fixture against Monaghan and the fifth fixture against Kerry. He appeared as a substitute for his own brother in the sixth fixture against Tyrone. He also appeared as a substitute in the seventh fixture against Mayo. Ahead of the
2015 Ulster SFC, McHugh cracked his
ribs while playing a game with his club and was also having difficulty with a
quad injury which had not properly healed. He made a substitute appearance in the preliminary round against Tyrone, started the quarter-final against Armagh and made a substitute appearance in the semi-final against Derry. He then started the 2015 Ulster SFC final. He also started the
2015 All-Ireland SFC qualifier defeat of Galway at Croke Park, and the next game against Mayo at the same venue. McHugh was included in the
2016 Dr McKenna Cup squad but was later reported to be training away from the team, with the manager stating: ""At present he is not in the squad… He is working on his own individual strength and conditioning programme under our supervision". He made a substitute appearance against
Roscommon in the fifth fixture of the
2016 National Football League. He made further substitute appearances in the sixth and seventh fixtures, against Dublin at Croke Park and Monaghan in
Castleblayney respectively. McHugh made a substitute appearance in the
2016 Ulster SFC final. He had previously made substitute appearances in the quarter-final against Fermanagh, in the semi-final against Monaghan and in the semi-final replay against the same opposition (scoring 0–1 in the latter game). McHugh also made a substitute appearance in the
2016 All-Ireland SFC qualifier defeat of Cork at Croke Park. McHugh made a substitute appearance in the second fixture of the
2017 National Football League away to Roscommon. He made a substitute appearance for his own cousin in the fourth fixture against Cavan. He made another substitute appearance in the fifth fixture against Tyrone. He made an early substitute appearance in the sixth fixture against Monaghan. He made another substitute appearance in the seventh fixture against Mayo. McHugh made a substitute appearance in the
2017 Ulster SFC quarter-final against Antrim, and scored 0–1. He made another substitute appearance in the
2017 All-Ireland SFC qualifier defeat of Meath at
Páirc Tailteann. He then started the qualifier loss to Galway at
Markievicz Park.
Declan Bonner: 2017–18 Under the management of
Declan Bonner, McHugh made a substitute appearance against Galway in the second fixture of the
2018 National Football League. He started against Dublin in the third game and against Kildare in the fourth game. In the fifth game against Tyrone (another start), McHugh scored a point. A further start followed in the sixth game against Monaghan, and a substitute appearance in the seventh game against Mayo. McHugh won his third and final Ulster SFC in
2018, appearing as second half substitute in the final against Fermanagh and scoring a point. He had previously made substitute appearances in the preliminary round against Cavan, the quarter-final against Derry and the semi-final against Down, scoring a point in the semi-final. McHugh did not return after the winter. Alongside clubmates
Ciaran McGinley and
Stephen McBrearty, he opted out the Donegal panel for the
2019 season.
Inter-provincial McHugh played for
Ulster in the Inter-Provincial Series. ==Style of play==