Newcomer Ciarán Moore relishing that winning feeling with Donegal

In such a short period of time, the tactical and natural playing elements to Ciarán Moore have already been ventilated in spoken and written words, so much so, that’s you’d think he’s been on the scene for a lifetime. 

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness acknowledged that last month. He admitted that he could spot his ability as an inter-county footballer so early on that when the Glenties man returned to the managerial hotseat after nine years, there was no question that Moore was going to be a vital part of his plan. 

For over 80 minutes, alongside the exceptional Brendan McCole and Mark Curran, the St Eunan’s club man played with a ruthlessness, cutting out any opposition ball that was played near him.  

But the quiet newcomer wasn’t resting on his laurels for too long. For him, it was all about the victory. 

“I’m very happy, the main aim more than anything was to come here and get a win, we made hard work of it by going to extra-time but at the same time, you’re never going to get an easy game against Tyrone, so we were just happy to get over the line,” said Moore. 

“We had great confidence in ourselves from the get-go. We didn’t really play in the first half, and being three points down wasn’t where we wanted to be, but luckily, we were able to crawl back into the game, get the match level and kick on from there.” 

Entering into injury time in the second half, Donegal looked in a difficult position. Needing an equaliser to send the game to extra-time, it never looked like the shot would be fired until a dropping ball from Ryan McHugh fell to the hands of Brendan McCole who slotted off his left to level matters.   

“I suppose you need things to go your way on the day, it’s about being in the right place at the right time so we can get on the ball and get the scores,” the Eunan’s player said. “We’re lucky that Brendan was there to get on the end of that dropping ball. Fair play to him for keeping his composure and putting it over. 

“We were mainly annoyed in the first half with the amount of ball we kicked away. Like, when you do that, it can cost you, and you’re never going to get the points you need. But we saw with the experienced players we had at the end, they knew to calm things down and get us moving, and ultimately that teamwork and leadership won it for us.” 

For Moore, he couldn’t have asked for a harder first season in the Ulster championship, with him already squaring off against Tyrone and Derry, the two previous provincial champions. But at the minute, he is enjoying every moment on and off the field. 

“I think when you play in pressure situations like that, you just have a mix of all emotions, there’s a bit of nerves, excitement, and now there's obviously joy because we’re where we want to be and that’s an Ulster final,” he proclaimed.  

“It’s probably an old cliche but we really are just taking it one game at a time, we still haven’t won a trophy, and we have to remember that, so we’ll enjoy this moment for now but then we’ll settle down and get ready for the final. Our job every week when we go out is to try and win games and long may that continue.”