Goalscorer Conor O'Donnell keen for Donegal to keep their momentum

Conor O’Donnell says Donegal are aiming to keep momentum firmly in their sails.

The Carndonagh ace scored 1-3, including a 47th minute goal, on Sunday as Donegal overcame Mayo 1-19 to 0-14 in Letterkenny.

O’Donnell batted home from inches for the goal that copper-fastened a notable win, Donegal’s third from three Division 1 outings.

“We’re in a similar position to where we were last year,” O’Donnell, who was named Man of the Match, said. “We had six points after three games and went down to Galway last year and we lost that game. So we don't want to lose any momentum now.

“We’re just trying to win the next game. No matter who goes out or what team goes out, we'll be pushing for the next game and we'll be able to win it, hopefully.”

With Dublin, Kerry and Mayo all put to the sword so far in 2026, Jim McGuinness’s Donegal are on a solid footing as they head for the Athletic Grounds to take on Armagh on Sunday.

O’Donnell said: “Armagh will be a massive challenge. It’s sure to be a good occasion and we’ll be looking forward to it.”

After Donegal left the door ajar for Kerry two weeks earlier, the signs were perhaps similar when Mayo made a purposeful start to the second stanza.

However, O’Donnell’s goal quelled any chances of Mayo catching Donegal napping.

O’Donnell said: “Periods in the second half we probably could improve on, but any time you get two points in Division 1, you can't complain.

“We’ve seen Mayo in the first couple of games, they were already gung-ho, they like to attack, they love getting scores. I suppose we had to control that ball in the first half. If we're doing double and treble transitions, it's going to make a hard game for us.

“We had to hold on, get our scores and the boys at the back held the ball very well. 

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“Against Kerry two weeks ago, we got punished badly by mistakes. Our aggression was really good, but our tackling, maybe in terms of fouling, wasn't and we gave away a lot of frees so we were wary of that today. We didn’t give away a whole lot of frees. That's a step for us again. 

“In that second half we were seven or eight points up and it was up to us to hold that in. We were very disciplined doing that.”

On his goal, O’Donnell added: “It would have been bad to miss that one. In fairness to Peadar (Mogan), he could have hand-passed it over the bar, but he went for the big score and thankfully it went into the net.”