Caolan McGonagle (born 1995/6) is an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who plays for Buncrana and the Donegal county team.

Playing career

Club

McGonagle's club Buncrana was relegated to the Donegal Junior Football Championship. However, he led the club back to the

Donegal Intermediate Football Championship The Donegal Intermediate Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal IFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA. Termon are the title holders (2024) defeating Naomh Columba in the Final. History The competition has been ...

in 2019.

Under-age

As a youth, McGonagle played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Details are from the print edition, published on the same date as "Donegal's McGonagle keen to keep hold of a starting jersey". Declan Bonner called McGonagle into his development squad but by the 2013 McGuigan Cup (Ulster Under-17) Final, McGonagle had moved outfield. He played in midfield as Donegal reached the final of the 2014 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship. However, he did not play in the 2017 Ulster Under-21 Football Championship Final, nor did he play in the 2017 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship semi-final.

Senior

First featuring for his county at senior level under the management of

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

, McGonagle was first called up ahead of the 2016 season as one of twelve new recruits, alongside such players as Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Stephen McMenamin and Ciarán Thompson. McGonagle played twice during Donegal's Division One campaign in the 2016 National Football League, featuring in the first and last fixtures, both times as a substitute: first he made a late appearance in the league opener against Down, then he came on in the league semi-final defeat to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Under the management of Declan Bonner, McGonagle started the opening fixture of the 2018 National Football League against Kerry in

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

. He also started the next game against

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. He came on as an early substitute for Nathan Mullins in the next game away to Dublin. He also appeared as a substitute in the fourth and sixth games, against

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

and

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

respectively. McGonagle made a substitute appearance in the

2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 130th instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. T ...

preliminary round defeat of Cavan but made no further appearances in the competition as Donegal secured the Anglo-Celt Cup. McGonagle started against

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in the opening fixture of the 2019 National Football League in

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

, scoring one point from a free. He scored the only goal of the game against

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

in the second fixture. He started the third, fourth, fifth and sixth fixtures against Tipperary,

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

and

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

. He started the seventh fixture against Kildare, scoring one point. Donegal qualified for the National Football League Division 2 final and McGonagle started the game as Donegal defeated Meath to win the title. McGonagle had featured in a lot of matches during the 2019 National Football League. Then he sustained an injury. McGonagle started Donegal's first fixture of the 2020 National Football League against Mayo and scored a point. He did not participate in the second game against Meath. He later started the third, fourth and fifth games against Galway, Dublin and Monaghan respectively. Then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

brought play to a halt. Play resumed

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

on 18 October with a home game against Tyrone; McGonagle started that game and scored a point. He also started and scored a point in the concluding game of the league campaign away to Kerry. McGonagle made his first championship start against Tyrone in the 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final. He also started the semi-final victory against Armagh, scoring two points (including one

mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

), and the final against Cavan, in which he scored two points. McGonagle started each of Donegal's four fixtures of the 2021 National Football League, against Tyrone, Monaghan, Armagh and Dublin, scoring one point each against Tyrone and Monaghan and two points against Dublin. He started each of Donegal's three fixtures in the 2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship, scoring two points against Derry in the quarter-final and a goal against Tyrone in the semi-final. McGonagle started Donegal's first two fixtures of the 2022 National Football League, against Mayo and Kildare. He did not play in the third game, against Kerry, nor in the remaining fixtures against Tyrone, Monaghan, Dublin and Armagh. He made a substitute appearance against Armagh in the 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final and followed this with a temporary substitute appearance (for Hugh McFadden) against Cavan in the semi-final (during which he scored a point). He started the final against Derry (which included

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, during which he was substituted). He also started the

2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) was the 135th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. Tyrone county football team, Tyrone entered the ...

qualifier loss to Armagh, standing in as goalkeeper for a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

when Shaun Patton was shown a black card.

Personal life

McGonagle is a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

teacher at

St Eunan's College St Eunan's College ( ; ), known locally as The College to distinguish it from the cathedral and GAA club, is a voluntary Roman Catholic all-male, English-medium secondary day school (and former boarding school) in County Donegal, Ireland. It ...

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( , meaning "hillside of the O'Cannons"), nicknamed the Cathedral Town, is a large town in County Donegal, Ireland, on the River Swilly in the north-west of Ulster. Along with the nearby city of Derry, Letterkenny is a regional eco ...

. He teaches

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Honours

;Player *

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* National Football League Division 2:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

finalist:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Ulster Minor Football Championship The Ulster Minor Football Championship is the Minor "knockout" competition in the game of Gaelic football played in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The trophy for the winning side is T ...

* Donegal Junior Football Championship: 2019 ;Individual * ''Gaelic Life'' Ulster Club All Star: 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGonagle, Caolan 1990s births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football goalkeepers Irish schoolteachers Irish mathematics educators People associated with St Eunan's College