The Mainland (Father Ted) Ted and Dougal flee deeper into the caves and get lost. Dougal complains of being hungry, having missed breakfast, and starts hallucinating. As Ted tries to find their way out, they run into Father Noel Furlong and the St. Luke's Youth Group, who have been lost in the caves for two days. Noel's overly optimistic manner and boundless energy leads him into singing a song that causes a cave-in that traps Noel beneath it. The Youth Group immediately depart and plan to make their way to Paraguay. Ted and Dougal continue to seek a way out, and Ted finds that
Father Dougal McGuire and very, very strange. I saw Dougal as very doglike, very puppyish and lovable, and really loyal to Ted." After the first episode aired, Ben Thompson of "The Independent" singled out O'Hanlon as "the real star of the show", and said that Dougal's "holy-fool innocence" as "worthy of James Stewart". Writing for the "Irish Examiner", Ed Power said that while the "meme-worthy" Dougal and Jack received the most attention at the time of broadcast, Morgan's straight-man performance was the highlight in retrospect. Morgan attributed the show's success to the appealing double-act formed by Dougal, "an idiot who knows nothing", and