Mayo will enjoy Kobe McDonald for as long as they have him
Kobe McDonald of Mayo leaves the field after his side's victory in the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Monaghan and Mayo at St Tiernach's Park in Clones, Monaghan. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
The Kobe McDonald hype train left the station at full-steam when Mayo’s 18-year old sensation swiftly scored 1-4 after making his league debut off the bench against Monaghan last weekend.
It wasn’t just what he scored, it was how he scored it. The goal, in particular, was a thing of beauty that showcased his speed, technical skill and flair as he floated across the heavy pitch and planted the ball to the bottom corner while running at full pelt.
For Mayo supporters it must have been an almost bitter-sweet moment given the county is resigned to losing McDonald to AFL club St. Kilda later this year.
It already looks like the Leaving Cert student has all the tools to become a footballer of the same calibre his father Ciaran was, so for a county crying out for a forward of his class his poaching is tough to take.
Still, there’s a lot of football to be played this year with both the Mayo seniors and U20s before he gets on that plane to Australia, and who knows what McDonald might achieve in the interim.
Mayo U20 manager, Keith Higgins, is taking an impressively philosophical view. He reckons McDonald should be allowed to enjoy his football for as long as Mayo have him, and the county’s supporters should enjoy him enjoying his football.
“It's funny how it works,” said Higgins at the launch of the Dalata Hotel Group U20 Football Championships yesterday.
“Ciaran was a hero of mine when I was coming through the Mayo ranks. I played a couple of years with him and then all of a sudden I'm managing his young lad which is a little bit strange.
“You saw the impact he had on Sunday, but the Saturday before that he was playing for his school in a Connacht 'C' Final in Bekan and it was snowing. You have to look at where he's coming from, he only turned 18 just before Christmas and there's an awful lot of talk about him already.
“From Andy's point of view he was probably trying to play down the hype but then he comes on and scores 1-4 in 25 minutes which doesn't help!
“He's a really, really good lad. Really quiet and unassuming and goes about his work. But you can see then when he scored that goal that he enjoyed it. A bit of a celebration the first day out so he's not afraid to express himself.
“You have to let guys enjoy themselves and express themselves as much as they can. Hopefully we'll see more of that in the next few months.
“He's a really, really good guy and as Andy keeps saying we have him for the year so you have to try to make the most of it.”
Pictured is Keith Higgins, Mayo U20’s Football Manager, as Dalata Hotel Group marks year two of its title sponsorship of the GAA U20 Football Championship. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
It seems unrealistic to expect a Leaving Cert student to make a decisive impact as a senior intercounty footballer in his first year, but McDonald is clearly no ordinary 18-year old footballer.
His performances at club level last year for Crossmolina were sensational, and there was no missing the star quality against Monaghan either.
It’s just extremely rare for someone so young to look immediately so at home on the biggest stage of all.
“It is unusual,” agrees Higgins. “Sometimes a guy could come in who might hit a couple of points, but I suppose the most impressive thing was just the goal he got, his technique.
“Under tricky conditions to score a goal like that, it shows the level he's at and the level of skill that he has. Fingers crossed we'll see more of it.
“I suppose Andy's probably trying to, not mind him, but again, you don't want to expose him to too much too early.
“You want to let him enjoy his school football. He's playing with his school friends. That's obviously a part of his life.
“He has his Leaving Cert coming up and you want to let him enjoy himself without putting too much of an emphasis on the whole structure because the talent is there, no doubt about it, he's a phenomenal talent.
“I think you just have to try and let him enjoy it as much as he can and whatever benefit then comes for Mayo all the better.”
Higgins admits “the whole county is crying” over the prospect of losing McDonald to St. Kilda later this year, but he’s not about to believe just yet that the lure of the AFL means the Crossmolina youngster won’t don a Mayo jersey again post-2026.
“Absolutely,” says Higgins. “And again, like I said, the lad has only gone 18 years of age. Even if he spent four years over there he'd come back and he'd still only be 22 and would have ten years of football ahead of him.
“You have to think of the long-term and I'm sure he has his plans from the summer onwards, but there's a few months there and if Mayo can get a bit of benefit from it, then why not.”
Losing McDonald will be a sore blow, but Mayo supporters should take some consolation from the fact that it looks like there’s a very promising generation of players coming through in the county.
Six of the eight schools that reached the Connacht A, B, C and D senior football finals this year were from Mayo and they’ll go into the provincial U20 championship as favourites to retain their title.
“It’s great to see that,” says Higgins of the talent in the county at schools level.
“If you're looking ahead 12 months down the line, there's huge potential coming through. There's really good young footballers in Mayo.
“It's great from our point of view as the U20 team management that you know there's good footballers coming through and we'll have a headache picking a panel of 30.
“I think from a future point of view and from a general Mayo point of view, it is really, really good to see the schools do well.
“I've always said that when you're trying to get a development squad together you'll be able to do that once a month and you have to deal with all the different clubs.
“But if you put emphasis on the schools, you have the lads from different clubs in there anyway and you'll have access to them five days a week and you can nearly use that as your hub.
“The stronger the schools are, you see it traditionally in the rugby circles, when you have a strong school system it feeds into your academies and it feeds onto your senior team. So, yeah, fingers crossed in the long run, it's always going to be a good thing.
“I suppose the challenge when they get to under 20 inter-county is making sure we develop that. I'm not trying to distance ourselves from it, but our season is so condensed, we're not really going to be there to try and really develop their skills in a huge way.
“They're already really good footballers when they come to us, we just have to try and mould them into a team.
“But there is huge talent coming through and we have to make sure we continue that so that the seniors are getting the benefit from it in two or three years' time.”
