THE NORTHERN lights will shine this winter. Donegal, the raging favourites, have won the All-Ireland football championship and in doing so have silenced the last of the unbelievers.

The team that bowed out of last year’s championship amid a hailstorm of criticism for their ultra-defensive game came back stronger and bolder and in the end they were unbeatable. Ulster fell and the rest followed.

Yesterday, it was the turn of a wonderfully tough and honest Mayo team to discover what Derry and Tyrone and Kerry and Cork have learned over the course of this formidable and unforgettable championship run: that over 70 minutes, Donegal have become impossible to live with.

They didn’t set out to become the most loved team in Ireland, merely the best. And it fell to Jim McGuinness, the man who took over a team haunted by a decade of harrowing losses, to sum up what it means.

“It feels unbelievable. And I am so proud of all these players. When you take over as a manager the one thing you hope for is that the commitment and the hunger to achieve will be there. And from the very first day we got our hands on them, it was there.

“These boys have made a commitment to their county, they are focused on that commitment and they believed even through thick and thin we could get there. And we have got here now. And it is a great thing to be part of a group that can make dreams become a reality. And that is what they have done in 20 months.”

Yesterday, they seemed relieved as much as elated to finally get there. The austere defensive discipline remains at the core of their belief system but they gilded this second ever All-Ireland title with scores worthy of any September, from Michael Murphy’s fire-rocket of a goal in the third minute to the very last point that Neil Gallagher stabbed over the Mayo bar after a necklace of subtle, clever passing.

They stuttered at times and looked nervous when Mayo, led by the remarkable tenacity of Lee Keegan, recovered from the disastrous concession of two goals in the first 12 minutes to trail by just three points at half-time.

“If you give a team like Donegal a seven point start, it is going to be difficult to come back,” James Horan said afterwards.

“But we stuck at it and we had chances. The team showed as it showed it all year the type of character that they have. They kept plugging away until the final whistle. We didn’t get there but they kept trying. Our first touch let us down a bit and some of our decision making and basic skills let us down.”

Once again, Mayo proved how sticky they have become. They had chances to make the second half particularly queasy for the Ulster men. This was a tough game, with clattering challenges and a fierce battle for possession in the middle third of the field. Mayo kept pressing even as time ebbed away.

But Donegal had leaders when it mattered. Once again, Neil Gallagher made several magisterial fetches at midfield. Anthony Thompson, Frank McGlynn and Paddy McGrath provided constant relief from the heavy-duty Mayo pressure and Karl Lacey, although a shattered man by five o’clock, was sublime in the opening quarter. The McGee brothers from Gweedore were as obstinate as ever.

Colm McFadden maintained the remarkable scoring streak which has made him the top scorer in the championship, finishing with 1-3. The St Michael’s man is a veteran of many bleak Donegal summers and admitted there were times when even dreaming of a day like this was a tough task.

“When I started playing, we thought we might get over the line one day. But as the years went on and we got knocked out in the early rounds in the championship, I probably thought it wouldn’t happen. Then Jim came in and we took it game by game. I think the hurt of the semi-final last year stood to us and we were able to take it that one step further.”

So that precious last step has eluded Mayo yet again. Even the most ardent Donegal fans must have felt for the Mayo men in the bedlam of the aftermath, when they stood on a field filled with green and gold streamers to hear yet another winning captain lead a three-cheers in their honour.

They needed many things to go right yesterday and the early goals blazed by Murphy and McFadden threatened to bring old torments screaming through their heads. They hung tough and recovered but could never catch up. They have all winter to wonder about the difference that Andy Moran, their missing captain, could have made.

Lord knows these All-Ireland final days have given Mayo enough furies as it is.

So Donegal then, have landed their second All-Ireland 20 years after their first. Jim McGuinness was a starry-eyed teenager then. Yesterday, he earned his place among the great managers, not just because he made All-Ireland champions of a broken team but because he has altered perceptions of how the game can be played along the way.

In the beginning, McGuinness declared he was taking Donegal on a five-year plan. This is year two.

The thought of year three will leave all would-be contenders sleeping uneasily in this winter.