Fogarty Forum: Could Kobe McDonald moonlight for Mayo in 2027?
Mayo's Kobe McDonald takes it all in during Amhrán na bhFiann. Pic: Sportsfile
Friday marked a fond farewell to Kobe McDonald as a massive Mayo contingent congregated in the RDS to make the PwC All-Stars their own.
The hope is the 18-year-old will be at the medal presentation before the end of the year but this was the final public goodbye before he begins his AFL journey in earnest in Melbourne later this month.
McDonald was in his element. “Cool” was his adjective of choice to describe capping off a remarkable debut senior season to become the youngest-ever All-Star.
His brother Jordan Flynn’s omission from the selected 15 was the one bum note. “I think he's probably the most hard done by player in the country to not claim an All-Star tonight. The one that I'm winning is as much his as it is mine. I wouldn't be the person I am today without him.”
Well, that and maybe the inane questions BPerfect Cosmetics, the GPA’s diversity and inclusivity partner, put to him on the red carpet. “All-Ireland or Sam?” drew a bemused look from the Crossmolina teenager. He wasn’t the only player subjected to them. The official players body may have to review the terms of that partnership, especially when the company’s social media channels seemed to celebrate such ignorance.
Those matters aside, little could detract from the celebration of arguably the most efficient inter-county season played by an individual. Of course, it could have been a mite better – McDonald wouldn’t begrudge his buddy Darragh Beirne the young footballer of the year award, as much as McDonald’s credentials were stronger. For instance, his SFC tally from play was 1-20, Beirne’s was 3-10.
One-and-done has never been so much fun, not even for Tadhg Kennelly in 2009, but have we seen the last of McDonald in a Mayo jersey? May we even see him line out next year?
A moonlighting McDonald can’t be ruled out in 2027 for a number of reasons. Firstly, Mayo manager Andy Moran possesses that type of lateral thinking. To Oisín Mullin, he sold the idea of returning home to line out in the All-Ireland final after playing for Geelong on the Friday and returning to Australia the day after the Kerry game.
Geelong head coach Chris Scott laughingly regaled Moran’s approach on national TV in Australia but added he would have given it stronger consideration were it not for Mullin man-marking three of the game’s biggest players over consecutive weekends as the Cats chased a place in the final series. “We were kind of open to the conversation,” said Scott.
Later, Mullin suggested it might have been on the cards had Geelong’s season been going poorly. "The coach (Moran) just touched base with me from home and had a chat with Scotty, but the circumstances around where we are in the ladder here and the time of season, it just didn't work out.”
McDonald’s St Kilda finished 11th of 18 in this year’s AFL table and 12th in the two previous seasons. In the last 10 years, they have only made the finals series on two occasions.
If McDonald had been with them this past season and Mayo found themselves in an All-Ireland final, there’s a strong possibility flights home would have been booked.
Besides, St Kilda have already indicated their support for McDonald’s indigenous football activities, allowing him to line out for Crossmolina in the senior county championship. “As a club, it's really important that we support our players in their lives outside of being professional AFL footballers," said Lenny Hayes, the club’s football general manager. The Saints had also allowed Cork’s Liam O’Connell and Meath’s Eamonn Armstrong to return to play for Ballincollig and Duleek-Bellewstown.
Besides, and this is the most unlikely outcome, the extent of McDonald’s first season Down Under may be confined to the secondary Victorian Football League. A generational player like him, determined to prove people wrong, as he has stated, it would be no surprise if McDonald, who turns 19 next month, were to make his AFL debut in year one.
Colm Begley was a week short of his 20th birthday when he made his AFL debut for the Brisbane Lions in 2006. Three years later and four months after moving to Australia, 19-year-old Michael Quinn made the quickest ascension for an Irish player, lining out for Essendon.
Martin Clarke and Pearce Hanley were also 19 as they made their bows for Collingwood and Brisbane Lions respectively. Dingle’s Mark O’Connor was 20 when he was elevated to the regular list and played for Geelong in 2017. Recent AFL Premiership medal winner Conor McKenna was 19 debuting for Essendon in 2015.
McDonald will be expected to join this illustrious crew. Becoming the first player to line out in an AFL Premiership and All-Ireland championship in the one season would be another first for a star who has already amassed several of them.
john.fogarty@examiner.ie
Slowly but surely details of the proposed National Hurling League fixtures are emerging. Cork’s hurlers face Tipperary in Thurles in Division 1A, Round 1 next January then entertain Kilkenny the following weekend.
Round 3 takes place in the first weekend of February and Henry Shefflin’s side don’t have their bye weekend until the last matchday on the weekend of March 20/21.
That means a couple of things. Firstly, unless they reach the Division 1A final, which could yet be postponed until September, Kilkenny will have a six-week break between the end of their group format and the start of the championship.
March 6/7 to April 17/18 is a considerable gap to bridge. It is a stretch that Waterford would have faced this past season but for their last game against Tipperary being postponed by a week following the sad passing of Déise forward Mikey Kiely’s father Benny.
Secondly, Kilkenny’s six games in the space of seven weekends (a maximum of 43 days), two of them in January, three in February and one in March, could represent as much as 55% of their season.
For at least a couple of the Liam MacCarthy Cup teams, those three games in the last two weekends of January and first in February could make up over 27% of their entire year.
It’s only how the year falls that two rounds take place in January this year but so much inter-county hurling feels as if it is shoehorned into months that simply do not suit the game.
Since 2024, all league games but the four finals have taken place before the clocks go forward. Ten years ago, including deciders, there were 13 NHL fixtures after the time change. Ten years ago, 14 championship matches were organised prior to the summer solstice. Now it’s four, at a push five.
Hurling needn’t go back in time but it is in the wrong time zone.
The joke but truism in GAA officialdom is that there is nothing special about Special Congress when there have been so many in recent times. Since 2017, there have been six – ’17, ’19, ’21 and ’23 to ’25.
It had been football expert review group chairperson Kevin McStay’s belief that there might be another ahead of next year’s inter-county football season to vote on their finalised recommendations.
That is highly unlikely to happen and so their proposals and those of John Meyler’s equivalent hurling committee will be put to delegates at Annual Congress in February with a mind to coming in for the championships on a permanent basis.
The Football Review Committee (FRC) had the entire canvas of the 2025 season to implement their changes. The expert review groups don’t possess as much capital and any inconsistencies between the rules implemented in the league and championship will likely be given short shrift by counties.
Unless it’s an emergency, the track record of committees set up in the final year of a GAA presidency producing results isn’t great. Jarlath Burns need only recall what happened to the hurling action plan workgroup his predecessor Larry McCarthy established in his final months in office in late 2023.
The FRC had recommended the creation of the football expert group but it was Burns who appointed McStay in February as he did John Meyler for the hurling equivalent the following month.
Both groups should be given more time as immediate results are a big ask.
