Crossmolina Deel Rovers were crowned Mayo U16 A champions last night at MacHale Park on Thursday, beating Castlebar Mitchels by a scoreline of 4-11 to 2-10. It was the performance of Crossmolina's captain Kobe McDonald that has gotten many in Mayo and across GAA social media talking this evening.
Anyone familiar with Mayo GAA will know that Crossmolina has already produced one incredibly-talented footballer with the surname McDonald. Practically everyone who's watched the highlights of Kobe McDonald on Thursday night will note the striking similarities to his father Ciarán.
McDonald started in the midfield and scored at least 2-5 of Crossmolina's total haul. Himself and full forward Oisin Deane formed a lethal combo, with young McDonald scoring two second half goals to decide the match.
It's an absolutely outrageous score kicked at the outset of the game that has everyone talking today: McDonald collects a kickout near the far sideline about 40 seconds into the game. He skates up the pitch, soloing past four opposing players before jinking slightly to create space and kick a wonderful point off his right boot.
Thankfully Crossmolina were kind enough to upload the whole game to youtube. You can watch McDonald's tremendous score at 1.35 below:
Kobe McDonald's outrageous score
He also flashes a knack for scoring frees from the ground and from distance that is eerily reminiscent of his father.
It's not the first we've seen of Kobe McDonald - some of his freetaking with Crossmolina was shared on TikTok last autumn.
@gaaconnect Like father like son #ciaranmcdonald #kobemcdonald #mcdonald #mayo #gaa #football #hurling #ireland #irish #fyp ♬ original sound - gaaconnect
Without wanting to place too much pressure on young shoulders, it was a bit like watching David Clifford's Hogan Cup days with St Brendan's. We could see McDonald selected for the Mayo minors next year. Whatever route he takes in his footballing career, he's contributed massively to a brilliant win for his club, so congratulations to him and all the Crossmolina U16s and commiserations to Castlebar Mitchels.
