Kobe mania in full flow as Crossmolina get unprecedented interest for Mayo club game

At the final whistle, battalions of determined children stormed the field – a pen, paper and mobile phone carrying army closing in on four fronts, all with a singular focus. Within seconds, Kobe McDonald was surrounded.The scenes at the end of Crossmolina’s 0-16 to 2-10 senior football championship draw with Mayo Gaels in Charlestown on Sunday were comparable only to the fandom that has followed David Clifford in recent years. It was a Kobe carnival.Afterwards, Crossmolina Deel Rovers manager Brian Benson admitted he could never recall as much hype and interest for a Mayo SFC group game. “We knew coming in that there was going to be a big crowd but we didn’t anticipate, I suppose, the level of interest around it,” said Benson.READ MORE“We’re standing outside the dressingroom door here, the place was mobbed with kids – not only kids, but adults too. Look, it’s brilliant, it generates a lot of hype around Mayo football but you definitely have to manage it.“It’s tough on Kobe as well, it’s not easy on him but he has a serious head on his shoulders so he’s well able for it.”Benson was speaking a couple of minutes after Kobe had been whisked away in a scene borrowed from one of those histrionic Hollywood movies where the star makes a dramatic dash through a throng of adoring fans to an awaiting car, driver at the ready, engine ticking over.Only the driver on this occasion just happened to be the star’s brother. Jordan Flynn had emerged from the dressingroom moments earlier hoping the old phone to ear trick would guarantee him unhindered passage to his car.It did not. Within seconds, his escape was thwarted. Word filtered back to Kobe that he would have to wait inside a little longer.Fans run towards Kobe McDonald at the end of Crossmolina's SFC draw with Mayo Gaels in Charlestown. Video: Gordon Manning It’s fair to say there were a lot of disappointed kids when he did finally emerge and make a beeline for Flynn’s car, but the reality is few GAA players have ever had such mania and hysteria lumped upon their shoulders in such a brief period of time as Kobe has these past few months.He’s still a kid himself, an 18-year-old who sat his Leaving Cert in June. The last few months have been a whirlwind, but he is grateful to St Kilda – his Aussie Rules club – for allowing him play for Crossmolina during the AFL off-season.“They know how much our hometown means to us [the Irish players], so I was happy when they gave me the green light on the last day before I flew home,” said McDonald.“I’ve said it many times, without this club, without the people of Crossmolina, I wouldn’t have been able to do all the amazing things I’ve done over the last 12 months.“I give every single bit of that to the people and the club, and whatever I can pay back to them this year [I will].”The game itself on Sunday was a slow burner played on a grey, damp, squally day at the immaculately turned-out Fr O’Hara Park. Charlestown Sarsfields club officials estimated the crowd was in the region of just over 2,000.Crossmolina needed a late point from Flynn to earn a draw and they advance to the knockout stages but without having gained a home quarter-final.Wearing number 11, but playing as a third midfielder, Kobe made an immediate contribution – winning the throw-in by fisting the ball down. He also scored Crossmolina’s first point, clipping over with his left foot in the third minute.Kobe McDonald gets a handpass off to a Crossmolina teammate. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho He won – or got a fist on – six kickouts in the first half and more than any other facet of the game, it was his leap and hangtime in the air that stood out as a bit special.But it wasn’t all Kobe of the Rovers comic-book stuff. He finished the game with 0-3 (one from play, one from a 45 and one from a free) but also registered four wides.The player tasked with keeping tabs on him for the afternoon was Andrew Quinn and the former Mayo minor can be more than content with his display – finishing with 1-2 and keeping Kobe honest throughout.“I’ve trained against him [with the Mayo minors and under-20s], he’s just an absolute phenomenal player,” said Quinn.“Some of his jumps in the first half, a few kickouts came under me and I was fully sure I was going to be able to break them but then you nearly feel his hip on top of your head because he gets that high up. That and his pace, if he gets a step on you at all he’s gone.”Benson is delighted he will have McDonald for the duration of the Mayo SFC – with St Kilda’s preseason training in Australia not starting until early November.And he says the impact of his return has already been hugely positive.“We were standing out on the pitch [at training on Tuesday of last week] and he just trots in, hood up, as if just a normal day.“He only came in on the Sunday morning, two o’clock in the morning or something, so you’re thinking it might take a few days [for him to come back].Crossmolina's Kobe McDonald rises highest in this clash with Jack Fallon of Mayo Gaels. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho. “I left him be, I thought it might be Thursday or Friday before we see him. So it was a huge lift for everybody to see him walking in. Everybody knows his talent but he’s a gentleman, as a character and a personality, he’s a credit.”During his brief initial stint in Australia – he arrived in early August – Kobe wasted no time integrating himself with St Kilda.“I landed [in Australia] around seven o’clock in the morning and got in around nine or 10 to the club and met all the boys. They weren’t putting pressure on me, it was just me wanting to get stuck in and get involved,” he said.“I knew I had a short window, so I wanted to make the most of it.“I definitely haven’t mastered [the oval ball] as much as the round one, that’s for sure. Hopefully someday I’ll get there.”The beach is about a five-minute stroll form his house in Melbourne so he will have that waiting for him when he returns Down Under. However, right now he hopes to ride the rollercoaster that has been his 2026 Gaelic football season for a little while longer.“It’s been a whirlwind, to be fair. Going into my Leaving Cert year, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be able to play for Mayo and climb the steps to the Hogan Stand this year.“So hopefully the end of this year I’ll be climbing the steps in MacHale Park.”He might just complete Gaelic football before he returns to Australia.