“Kobe will always be welcome in Crossmolina.”
As chair of Crossmolina Deel Rovers GAC for the past five years, Enda Lavelle has experienced the highs and lows.
Relegation from the Mayo Senior Football Championship was disappointing, but the club’s subsequent promotion and run to the 2025 All-Ireland intermediate club title was a special day.
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Championship defeats are always tough to take and Crossmolina’s defeat by Garrymore in the Mayo senior quarter-final on Saturday evening represented not just the end of the season for the club, but potentially the end of Kobe McDonald’s days as a Gaelic football.
The 18-year-old, who helped end the county’s 75-year wait for Sam Maguire in July, is set to begin a career in Australian Rules with St Kilda and the Melbourne club’s blessing for McDonald to temporarily return home for Crossmolina’s club championship campaign was welcomed.
“It’s up to St Kilda whether he’ll be allowed to play with Crossmolina,” Lavelle told BBC Sport NI’s Thomas Niblock.
“We were lucky enough they let him come back and play in the club championship. It was brilliant for us, brilliant for the young fellas, the crowd and the community that he could play.
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“We’ve seen him since he was eight or ten years of age. The rest of the world is getting to see it now, but we’ve been lucky enough to see it for the past eight or nine years.
“The door will always be open for him in Crossmolina.”
‘We had to tell farmers to get their cows off the road’
Garrymore’s 0-14 to 0-12 win on Saturday took place on their home patch, but it was an occasion perhaps never experienced before in the small village in the south of the county.
Club chairman, Pat Hession – uncle of All-Ireland winner Enda – had the task of coordinating a sizeable operation that involved an army of volunteer stewards to ensure a crowd of 5,000 could be accommodated for a game that captured the imagination of fans beyond county lines.
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“We had to tell the farmers to get their cows off the roads early so the cars won’t get blocked up,” Pat said in the hours before throw-in.
“Fair play to the neighbours as we have 30 acres of land for parking.
“We’re right on the Galway border and there are people coming from Roscommon, from Galway and Sligo to see Kobe McDonald.
“He is a wonderful talent, but for us it’s about Garrymore.”
Garrymore treasurer Sarah Tierney had her own Australian adventure.
The former Mayo ladies captain moved down under in 2019, not primarily for football, but new career opportunities, yet the lure of home following a cruciate ligament injury two years later made her mind up to seek a return to the green and red.
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What a time it is to be from the Yew County with the joy from the county’s All-Ireland final win over Kerry in no rush to subside, yet it is club which took priority over the weekend.
McDonald is revered throughout Mayo, but that was put on hold for a couple of hours in Garrymore at the weekend.
“He’s a fantastic athlete and for someone of 18 years of age to have the year he has had, to go out and play with no pressure and that freedom [is incredible],” she said.
“That younger mentality has helped the Mayo team.
“I always say we have our own Kobe here in Garrymore, Eoin McGreal and over the last two or three years to watch him play here with Garrymore has been unbelievable, same with Enda Hession.”
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‘Mayo’s tears of joy will be remembered forever’
While McDonald kicked three points on Saturday to help Crossmolina into a one-point lead late on, it was McGreal’s equaliser which saw the balance tip towards Garrymore as Mark Gibbons and Cathal Slattery kicked the decisive scores.
McGreal is another of Mayo’s All-Ireland winning heroes, as is his club-mate Enda Hession whose father, John admits the county’s stunning win over Kerry in July “still hasn’t fully sunk in”.
“To get over the line in an All-Ireland final is not easy, especially against Kerry, the kingpins of football for as long as we can remember,” he said, likening McGreal and McDonald to “two racehorses”.
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“They were going for their 40th, we were going for our fourth. Nobody gave us a chance, so that’s what made it really sweet.
“You lose track of time, but it was probably three-quarters of an hour [after the final whistle] and the whole stadium was still filled, not a sinner had gone.
“I’d say we had 60,000 there at least and half the stadium was in tears – that will be remembered forever more.”
‘Kobe is a huge loss to the GAA’
McDonald is a hero to young fans in Mayo [Getty Images]
The joy of victory and pain of defeat are the opposite ends of the sporting spectrum and on Saturday, it was Crossmolina who bid farewell to this year’s county championship and, for now, to McDonald.
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As the teenager made a break for the dressing room with young fans in hot pursuit in the wake of what was an emotional evening, it felt like the end of an era, however short.
Deel Rovers chair Lavelle reflected on a “bittersweet” night as McDonald’s time in maroon and white came to an end.
While Crossmolina will “go home and lick our wounds”, they will regroup for 2027 and whether that will involve McDonald for a part of next term remains to be seen, but “we’ll take him any time, whether it is a training session or championship game”.
“It’s a huge loss to Crossmolina, huge loss to Mayo and a huge loss to the GAA,” Lavelle reflected.
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“We’ve seen him light up Croke Park, light up MacHale Park and his attitude to football is role model stuff.
“It’s bittersweet but when we heard about it [move to St Kilda], we wished him every success and we aren’t going to stand in his way.
“It’s great to have it in your locker you were able to produce someone of that calibre in Crossmolina and for a club of our size to get that recognition is great. We’ll wish him the best of luck as he is a great lad.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
