Kobe McDonald: 'I’m not thinking about Australia. I’m just going to soak this in'

That meant if he was to taste All-Ireland final glory with his county before heading Down Under, he would have to do it on Sunday against the reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry.

And that’s exactly what he did as his three points from play helped his county lift their first Sam Maguire title in 75-years with a three-point triumph over the Kingdom.

“To be honest with you, it’s impossible to put into words,” began McDonald when speaking to RTÉ shortly after full-time.

“We’ve had a tough year, a lot of the country probably wrote us off after that tough day against Roscommon.

“But Andy (Moran) is so big on trusting our process and we said at the start of the year that our goal was to climb the Hogan steps and to be honest it’s still surreal that we are just after doing that.

“It’s very easy when every single player and every single coaching staff give you the license to go out and express yourself and enjoy yourself. When you are playing in front of 80,000 it’s hard not to have a bit of fun.

“Look, to be honest, I’m not thinking about Australia right now. I’m just going to soak every bit of this in. This is where I come from and to give these people of Mayo something to cheer about is special.

“Every team probably says it but we are like a family. When we come into training three times a week it’s like 40 brothers.

“We know every single person in there has each other’s backs. No matter what anyone says outside the group, it doesn’t affect us.”