Peadar Mogan's passion and pride in Donegal banishes the heartache of yesteryear

There’s always that burning question, perhaps a nagging feeling that at some point in their career, every player must ask themselves, “How many times can one go to the well in the hope of success?” 

We’ll never know if that thought passed through Peadar Mogan’s mind. His performance during Sunday’s Ulster final win would suggest not.   

In the bear pit of St Tiernach's Park Clones, in front of 28,000 supporters, Mogan stood tall when his county needed him the most.  

His colourful rush of passion and adrenaline alone almost shook Armagh to their core. He was not a player to be messed around with.   

After all, Mogan is not a kid anymore. Sunday’s final saw the lightning-quick, fair-haired Mountcharles player transform into one of the county’s finest warriors. 

Five seasons of pain and unfortunate loss were enough for him to bear. He knew that the invisible sporting hands that had kept him and his team down for so long would soon be gone forever.   

By the end of the day, the Anglo Celt medal that eluded him for too long would now be firmly stamped in his name.  

There is an outstanding image deep into the second period of extra time with the score standing at 0-20 apiece.  

Tiernan Kelly darts down the right-hand flank in his side’s final attempt of a score to win the game. Mogan is on guard and meets the Clann Éireann man with a thunderous tackle. No way through.  

The ball is turned over as the St Naul’s man turns to the Gerry Arthur Stand punching his fists in the air as if conducting a green and gold orchestra, as the high voltage of electricity lifts across St Tiernach’s Park.  

Like an atomic bomb, Mogan’s play on the day was a mixture of grandeur and defiance, when so many around him were at odds with their game.   

Mogan knew his side had one last attack. They would either seek a winning point from this passage of play, or the game would be decided on penalties. Either way, his side were not to be beaten.   

The latter stage was the path chosen, and while no sports psychology in the world can stop stomachs creeping up towards young throats when faced with the haunting house of penalties, Donegal always kept their faith. There was no other option.

In the end, Shaun Patton’s superb penalty save on Shane McPartland released an air of emotion not seen from the county in years. Mogan and his team were back as kings of Ulster once again.  

A first Anglo Celt for him and 21 other players.  

So, what did it mean to him?  

“It’s pure relief really and just absolute joy, you can see the scenes here and what it means to the people of Donegal.  

“From where we were last year to being here today in Clones, it’s very special,” said the 25-year-old Mogan.  

The heartbreak of yesteryear had melted almost like snow. The former county underage captain, alongside his two-point poem for the afternoon, had turned the clock back to the good old days as he and the Donegal panel finally reconnected the tissue between the team and its people.  

And none of that was more evident than the thunderbolt of sound booming from the ground when Patrick McBrearty lifted his county’s 11th Anglo Celt cup. 

“A team performance is when you put trust in everyone else, we trusted Shaun Patton and our five penalty takers and thankfully they came up trumps and we’re just eternally grateful for that,” the half-back admitted.  

“The biggest thing for me was standing there and watching Patrick lift the cup and looking out and seeing a sea of green and gold.  

“It takes me back to when I was a child and I saw Donegal lift their first Anglo Celt Cup in 2011, it’s a surreal moment and a mental picture you can take with you and that’s special.” 

But the feeling of historical glory is only part of Mogan and his team’s plan. The responsibility of representing their people, a longing to bring success to a county, that for much of the GAA’s history, Donegal has been starved from. Players that the public can finally relate to.  

“I’m teaching in Donegal, and I tell you the kids aren’t long talking to you about the game, but that’s all part of it, it's about giving them young kids a reason to go out on a Sunday and get behind the team,” Mogan admitted.  

“The big thing for us is giving the crowd something to support and relate to a team that runs and tackles and works hard. We want to give them something to cheer about.  

“Donegal people love a team that doesn’t give up. That's what happened today, and hopefully, they can take something from that. We hope that if you’re a young child they will see that never-say-die attitude . . . that’ll get you a long way in life, on and off the field.” 

Too often criticism of the team had ventured into parody. The idea that in years past, when the going got tough in the business end, Donegal would crumble like a tower loaded with dynamite.  

The none-risk play of the past only allowed fans to live in hope of a win rather than confidence. But with Jim McGuinness’s return and new artillery added to the panel, Donegal once again look dangerous.   

A team of workaholics that once again can challenge and have increased competition, to what is now a championship dressing room, but are always looking to up the ante.  

“It’s great that we won, but when we analyse the performance in a few days' time, it probably wasn’t unbelievable . . . it was more of a results-based game than a performance-based game and you have to roll with that at times,” the St Naul’s man said.  

“We felt we let them in too easy and we gave them a lot of shots in the first half, we probably didn’t make enough contact or tackles on the ball, we just let them take control and when we were four down, all we had to do was to stop the bleeding, get a point and get it back to three and then start rolling with the punches from there.  

“We kept digging in and sometimes it’ll fall for you and sometimes it won’t, luckily it fell for us today and we just kept going.   

“Even in extra-time, we were doing well with a point up, but we still had two or three bad shots and that’s crucial because momentum is a crazy thing in extra-time, but thankfully we kept digging in.”  

In his longing for inter-county glory and pride in his place, this season Mogan seems to exert control on a GAA field much like a snake charmer hypnotising a python.  

He and his team know there is more to do, but for now, the drumbeat of the glory days once again roars across Donegal for their new footballing heroes, while the sound of the recent years has finally fallen silent.