Impossible to shelter Kobe from all the hype

The secret’s out. The nation, the world now knows what we’ve known for a while about the ridiculous, prodigious talent we have on our hands. But how do you keep a lid on the Kobe hype when he goes and produces a debut performance like that?

It was Roy of the Rovers stuff. It was only a twenty-minute cameo but he did more damage in those twenty minutes than most intercounty footballers do in their entire careers. It was barely believable. Every time he touched the ball, he looked like scoring. With his first three touches in intercounty football, he had 1-03 scored. If that touch-to-scoring ratio continues, he will be Mayo’s all-time top scorer by the time he heads Down Under.

I jest, of course, and do not want to be hyperbolic or go overboard, but it’s hard not to be giddy when you see the young man announce his arrival to senior intercounty football in such a stunning manner. The only comparison I can make is Shane O’Donnell’s wonder debut for the Clare senior hurlers in the 2013 All-Ireland Hurling Final, when he scored a first-half hat-trick. The stakes were obviously higher when O’Donnell lit it up, but you get the feeling that Kobe would have exploded onto the scene whatever the occasion and whatever the venue.

He has all the panache, style, skill and kicking ability of his legendary father, but he also possesses a key attribute that his dad was not really blessed with: blistering pace. The finish for his goal was sublime. I was right behind it and the way he whipped it around the keeper and in off the post was not the finish of an ordinary player. But he only got that chance because of his rapid pace, which saw him glide away from would-be tacklers who tried in vain to recover after a turnover outside the 45.

People always ask me about the big difference between playing club football and intercounty football and I always thought it was the speed at which you have to get your shots off. If you dawdle, hesitate or doubt yourself at intercounty level, you get blocked down. McDonald’s speed gives him the extra few yards to get his shots off. His skill ensures they sail between the posts.

Each one of his points was also stamped with quality: the confidence he showed to score so assuredly from an angle with his first touch, the range and power of his shot to nail a two-pointer and the dancing feet to pirouette out of contact and almost kick over his shoulder for his final score of the day. You can be sure it won’t be the final score of his Mayo career.

The excitement, buzz and rush we all got from seeing him make his debut was tinged with a little regret that this potential GAA superstar will only be playing this game that he is so good at for another six months. That tantalising snapshot reminds us of what we will be missing when he joins the AFL. Mayo people will feel the loss more than most, but it will also be a savage loss to the GAA.

Tennyson said that “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” so it is important that we enjoy him over the coming months. You can be sure Andy won’t be looking just to “enjoy” his performances but to harness his incredible ability to help him win some big matches and pots in the ’26 season.

Kobe’s masterclass almost overshadowed a superb Mayo showing and many outstanding individual performances. Sam Callinan is back to his best and was highly effective in both halves of the field, breaking up Monaghan attacks and carrying the ball forward to instigate Mayo ones. Bob Tuohy is often unheralded but he is beginning to find his feet at this level. He bettered Gary Mohan in the air and gave Mayo a real platform by competing so well on all kickouts. When the game was still tight, he fronted up and started winning Mayo some crucial ball that helped them turn the screw.

Jordan Flynn is your ideal wing-forward: a powerful man who works like a dog and chips in with points consistently.

Conor Loftus’s reintroduction to the fold in recent weeks couldn’t have gone better. He has added a lot to this Mayo team. In a side filled with players who prefer to carry and handpass rather than kick inside, Loftus and Ryan O’Donoghue are the lock-pickers around the middle third. These are the guys who can get their heads up and execute a defence-splitting pass that not everyone would see. Combine their kick-passing with the likes of Callinan’s and Paddy Durcan’s ball-carrying and you have a nice mix.

If you’re going to win matches at senior intercounty level now, you need to be kicking two-pointers and Mayo have found their shooting boots this season. Hitting six contributed handsomely to amassing an incredible 2-30, but it was very evident that two-pointers were something Mayo were chasing with a gale behind them in the first-half. Fergal Boland’s two monster efforts just before the break really put the tin hat on it for Monaghan and, with such a depleted side, they were never going to reduce such a big margin in the second-half.

Boland would be worth including in the team for his propensity to kick two-pointers alone, but he adds much more than that. He is busy, lively and tidy and adds fluidity and scoring power to the Mayo attack. Darragh Beirne kicked five points in 50 minutes yet there was hardly a word about it in Clones given Kobe’s virtuosity. Everyone can see he is doing great though and he is a serious scoring find for Mayo. He is a natural corner-forward and a deadly finisher and they do not grow on trees.

All in all, Monaghan were poor and didn’t look like a Division 1 team, but there was a myriad of positives for Andy Moran and his team on a wonderful day for Mayo football. Perhaps the full-back line looked a little exposed at times but if that’s the price to play attacking, attractive, constructive football, then so be it.

Everyone put their best foot forward and there wasn’t a bad performer in green and red. In fact, there were many excellent ones, including young Kobe, who looked to the manor-born.

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One more thing… 

After last night’s match against Everton, Manchester United will play just three times in the next 43 days. By contrast, senior intercounty Gaelic footballers will have played three times in just 14 days after next weekend’s round of NFL games. Add to that midweek training, S&C work, video analysis and full-time jobs – yet they still deliver high-quality, entertaining football every weekend, often in awful weather and on sodden pitches. That dedication deserves huge credit and respect.