Kevin McHugh hopped over a fence with 10 fingers. When he landed, he was down to nine.
The captain of the Finn Harps soccer team in Ireland is retiring after a freak accident last week in Donegal during a coaching session.
The 36-year-old said he was jumping over a fence when his wedding ring got caught. He glanced down upon landing, and his world was changed.
“Once my two feet landed on the ground it felt like there was a tug on the ring,” McHugh told the BBC. “I looked down at my hand and I saw there was no finger there.
“I looked at my club mates, Dessie McGlinchy and BJ Banda, and they were sheet white and in shock, so I knew it was bad.”
Warning: Graphic image
McHugh was rushed to the hospital, but in his haste didn’t bring the missing digit, according to The Irish News. He had to call a coach on his way to ask him to scoop up the ring finger, which doctors weren’t able to reattach.
McHugh had been planning to retire at the year’s close — there are just three games left in the League of Ireland premier division — but losing a finger has meant losing his final farewell, too. McHugh debuted in the league as a 17-year-old in 1998.
“It’s not the way I had planned to say goodbye, but that’s the way it is,” McHugh said.
