Caolan McColgan of Donegal poses for a portrait with the Sam Maguire Cup during the launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship National 2024 at The Glen Centre in Maghera, Derry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Donegal defender Caolan McColgan has vivid memories of the county’s All-Ireland winning campaign in 2012.
He was 10 years of age and travelled to every championship game that year with his parents and sister.
They watched from the Hogan Stand as Michael Murphy inspired Donegal to victory over Mayo in the All-Ireland Final, and joined the throngs that welcomed the victorious team back to Donegal the following day.
The young McColgan dreamed of wearing the jersey and winning silverware himself some day, so it was a real pinch me moment when he stood alongside his team-mates in front of thousands of happy Donegal supporters at the Ulster Final homecoming in May.
“It was a great buzz, it was nearly surreal,” he said. “I was hiding in the back, I wasn't even looking out too much. It's great to see the fans out supporting Donegal in those numbers.
“You dream of winning Ulster titles and to actually do it was incredible.
“I was there in 2012 when it was pissing rain and I was soaked but I still loved it looking up at them boys and now that I'm playing with a few of them it's great.
“Since I was a young lad all I wanted to do was to play for Donegal. Nothing else.”
At that Ulster Final homecoming team manager Jim McGuinness made it very clear he thought his team were good enough to go on to challenge for the Sam Maguire Cup and you can be sure his players believed him.
They’re certainly playing like a team that regards his every word as gospel which is no real surprise.
Caolan McColgan of Donegal during the Allianz Football League Division 2 Final match between Armagh and Donegal at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
The younger players in the panel like McColgan grew up hero-worshipping McGuinness during the ‘Jimmy’s winning matches’ era, and so far he’s lived up to all of their high expectations.
“I think it's just a bit of everything,” says McColgan of the secret to McGuinness’s managerial success.
“He always has his homework done and has a great knowledge of the game and he's great at passing it on to us.
“He's just been great since he came in and hopefully now we can push on.
“We know we have great footballers in Donegal it's just about getting the game-plan right and going out there and showing what we can do.”
McColgan enjoyed an impressive debut season for Donegal last year, winning the man of the match award in his very first league game against Kerry and otherwise emerging from what was ultimately a challenging year for the county with a lot of credit in the bank.
As a defender he hs a bit of everything. He's a sticky man-marker but also very comfortable attacking with the ball, so when you ask him what Donegal players he has most admired his answers don’t come as that big a surprise.
“Karl Lacey, I nearly based my own game off his as much as I could. And then when I got older and played with Ryan McHugh I try to base it off him too. It's good to be playing with him now and learning from him.
“He's a great player, we all know that. He's phenomenal on and off the ball. He's great to watch and great to play with. He always gives good advice and it's great to have that influence.
“Sometimes I play as a forward with the club so I'm comfortable getting forward, but my favourite thing is man-marking. I just love the challenge of going one v one against another player.”
Donegal have had to do without McColgan since the Ulster Final due to a hamstring strain, but he’s hopeful he’ll be available for duty for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final against Louth.
“I tore my hamstring in the club championship last year and got surgery on it, then pulled the other hamstring in the Ulster Final,” says McColgan.
“Thankfully this one isn't as bad as the other one, there's no damage to the tendon. I'd hope to be back for the quarter-final all going well.”
