Kobe McDonald won't play for Mayo in London Championship opener

The Mayo teenage sensation will have to wait for his Championship debut

Mayo’s Kobe McDonald. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

Mayo teenage sensation Kobe McDonald will not make his senior championship debut in Ruislip on Saturday week as U20 involvement takes priority for the moment, Andy Moran has confirmed.

The AFL-bound 18-year-old kicked the match-clinching two-pointer in Wednesday’s Connacht U20 Championship win over Roscommon, and with Mayo’s final two games of the U20 provincial round-robin falling on the two Wednesdays either side of the senior game against London in Ruislip, McDonald will have to wait a little longer for his first taste of senior inter-county championship action.

Fellow Mayo U20 Darragh Beirne, who kicked 2-9 during the League, will also sit out the London fixture.

“The two boys won't play in London,” said Moran at yesterday’s Connacht SFC launch at the province’s centre of excellence in Bekan.

“They'll still come over for the game. They've done a lot of work with the seniors since last December, so I think they deserve the chance to come over and experience that.

“Kobe, obviously the stories about Kobe and going to Australia, but Darragh is going to be one of the leading pins in four or five years' time when it happens again, so I think he’s as well to experience it when he gets the chance. But even spending that time with the lads and seeing what it's all about is important for them as well.

“The way we have it at the minute is the U20s train with the seniors and they play with the U20s. They play Galway four days after they come back from London, and that's probably going to be the game that decides who gets to the U20 final. Chances are whoever wins that goes directly to a final, so I think it’s only fair [they don’t play in London].” 

If Mayo, as expected, get the job done in Ruislip, Moran confirmed the U20 pair will be available for senior selection for the Connacht semi-final against Roscommon or New York on the weekend of April 25/26.

On the injury front, Darren McHale is the sole player on the long-term absentee list. His diagnosis is chronic-load injuries, from a collection of setbacks over the years, Moran explained.

Mayo players who should be back within the next week and a half include Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession, and Conor Loftus. Matthew Ruane, who didn’t play a single minute during the League, is back in training.

Forward Tommy Conroy, who started their League opener and didn’t see game-time again until introduced as a sub in Round 7, is another who has come right just as summer comes into view.

“He's done an awful lot of running. I'd say he's sick of it, and he just wants to play now,” Moran concluded.