Milestone for McGonagle

By Michael McMullan

CAOLAN McGonagle says his milestone of reaching 100 senior appearances is more important to his parents, his club and something he’ll reflect on the in the future.

The Buncrana man was the heart of Donegal’s win over Dublin on Saturday in Croke Park to get their league campaign off to a positive start.

“At the minute I just take it game by game and this happened to be in the 100s, so I’m just happy to get the result too at the end of the day, that puts a wee icing on the cake for me,” he added.

McGonagle played for Donegal on the run to the 2014 All-Ireland minor final before breaking into the senior camp. Under Jim McGuinness he has been a regular rock, one their defence has been centred around. Playing 100 time for cements the level of consistency McGonagle has brought to his game.

“I’ve had my fair share of injuries too,” he added. “It’s taken me nearly 10 years probably to get 100 appearances. It’s about getting in at the start, building that confidence and keeping it rolling from there.”

McGonagle sees life in the Donegal senior squad as “privilege” and an “honour”, something he says the group never take for granted.

“There’s how many Gaelic footballers in the county and there’s only 30 or 35 that get to make the Donegal senior panel every year,” he said.

“We know we’re in a privileged position but again you’ve got to work hard. People are paying their money to come and support us, so you’re under a bit of pressure to perform and to work hard.

“There’s that onus on us to do that, so yeah it’s a privilege but we don’t take it for granted.”

Looking back on Saturday’s win, a goal from Shea Malone – on his league debut – put Donegal on their way to a six-point half-time lead.

In the end it was the decisive score in a 1-20 to 0-20 victory with half a dozen Michael Langan points vital to victory.

“It was a good first half, we had a bit of a lead built up,” McGonagle summed up. “In the second half, we maybe struggled to get some of our kick-outs away

“They (Dublin) got them back into the game. It was good to see us hold on in the end and the new boys came in and some of them got their debut in a run out in Croke Park.”