CIARÁN THOMPSON hailed Ciarán Moore for kicking his winner against Mayo.
Moore’s last-gasp point for Donegal after the buzzer at Dr Hyde Park last Sunday dumped the Green and Red out of the Championship.
A draw would have been good enough for Jim McGuinness’ men to finish second in Group 1.
The winning score made no difference to them in that regard but it does mean they go into tomorrow’s All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final at home to Louth with the momentum of being on the back of two victories.
And Thompson lauded flying wing-back Moore, 22, for bombing forward for the victory.
The Donegal star told SunSport: “He’s brilliant, he has serious legs, absolutely unbelievable.
“Coming from the half-back line there into the half-forward line, just to compose yourself then and stick it over was savage. Fair play to him.
“We always knew it was going to be a tight battle against Mayo, it always is. Mayo went ahead but we dug deep to bring it back level and we got one or two ahead.
“They brought it back level and it was just nice to kick the winner then at the end with the last kick of the game.”
Thompson knows Donegal’s home comforts are vital. They were in danger of finishing third when David McBrien’s second-half goal put Mayo in front — that might have meant a trip to Kerry or Dublin this weekend.
Daire Ó Baoill’s two-pointer and scores from Michael Murphy and Shane O’Donnell eased fears of that happening and while Fergal Boland thought he had kept the Connacht giants in the hunt for Sam with a late leveller, Moore had the final, decisive say.
Donegal have only lost one game in league and Championship football at Ballybofey’s MacCumhaill Park under McGuinness and Thompson is happy to be at home against the Leinster champs tomorrow.
He added: “We were always expecting that from Mayo. We knew they were going to come back and the goal was a bit of a sucker-punch.
“It was just massive to win and get a home draw.”
