Anthony Thompson is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Naomh Conaill and, formerly, the Donegal county team.
Playing alongside John Gildea in midfield, Thompson scored 0–3 (two of which were frees), in the final replay, as Naomh Conaill won its first ever Donegal Senior Football Championship (SFC) in 2005.
[13][14][15] Ahead of the 2023 final, Thompson (alongside Marty Boyle, Stephen McGrath, Leo McLoone and Eoin Waide) was recognised for making a 100th club championship appearance.
[23] Normally a quiet member of the team, in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat of Kerry at Croke Park on 5 August 2012, he knocked teammate Patrick McBrearty out of the game with his head.
[31] His last appearance for Donegal during Gallagher's ill-fated managerial reign was against Dublin in the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat at Croke Park, a game in which he scored one point.
[34] Thompson has been considered by national media to be "an invaluable leader", a "selfless player" and "one of the most iconic number 5s in the county's history".
[32] His virtuoso performance in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was highlighted by The Irish Times which noted how he "seemed to shepherd the play exactly to his liking and moved through the fare in that unhurried, three-quarters pace style of his", at one stage "loitering in front of David Clarke's goal, a de facto full forward doing what good front men do: keeping quiet as a church mouse and waiting to be spotted".
[35] Despite playing at wing back, he was the first person to congratulate Michael Murphy following his early goal in that game, having raced through to offer support to his full-forward team captain.