McGowan won the
1987 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship with Donegal. He fell out with manager
Tom Conaghan during the 1980s. He was a member of Donegal's
1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning team. Deployed as a defender, he started at right corner back in the 1992 All-Ireland Final as Donegal defeated
Dublin by a scoreline of 0–18 to 0–14. His last Championship game for Donegal was the 1998
Ulster Senior Football Championship final loss to
Derry. Himself and
Manus Boyle (who had just also played his last game for Donegal) went "down the town" (
Clones) and got left behind, missing the Donegal team bus but later catching the Killybegs bus. In May 2012, the
Irish Independent named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years. The
Donegal News has described him as "probably the most reclusive or quietest member" of Donegal's 1992 team and noted it was rare to encounter him in print or on the airwaves. ==Club==