"Genuine superstar": Why Saints fans should be excited by Irish phenom

With St Kilda having signed Gaelic football rising star Kobe McDonald, the Irish Examiner’s Maurice Brosnan has provided some context on how big the signing is for the Saints.

The 18-year-old, who is the son of legendary Mayo County footballer and International Rules representative for Ireland in 2004 and 2005, Ciaran, was signed by St Kilda as a Category B rookie.

Kobe himself has earned plenty of praise along the way following some impressive performances with Crossmolina Deel Rovers, which has now seen him earn a senior appearance for Mayo’s county side last month as a right half-forward.

His former coach, Austin O'Malley, went so far as to say that McDonald was “the most exciting thing I’ve seen in a jersey in quite a while”, with his current coach, Andy Moran, saying that he “trains like an animal”.

And it’s a sentiment that is shared by Brosnan, who did express some sadness at seeing him depart following one season with Mayo.

“He is a genuine superstar,” he told SEN Breakfast.

“It was confirmed that the current Mayo manager (Moran) has told us that he has permission to play for Mayo before he goes (to St Kilda).

“So, he’s currently doing his Leaving Certs, which is his final school exams before he goes on to St Kilda.

“He is a gem, and we’ll probably see him play for Mayo before he goes.

“Mayo has lost some pretty good players, that’s the same county where Pearce Hanley would have come from and Oisin Mullin most recently.

“And he would be in a similar bracket in terms of the impact he has as an underage player, so they’ll be sad to see him go.”

With McDonald joining St Kilda, he now becomes the latest Irish Category B rookie to join, having followed the likes of Liam O’Connell and Eamonn Armstrong to the club, which highlights an interesting recruiting pathway for the Saints.

“What St Kilda are doing in terms of identifying young talent and getting them over early is pretty interesting,” Brosnan added.

“I mean Kobe is just the latest. They’ve got Eamonn Armstrong, who is another superstar underage player for his county, Meath here.

“I believe he is in constant communication with the club while he is still in school. But the good thing for us all of here is that we’ll get to see one season of him before he goes away.”

McDonald will join the side halfway through 2026 once he completes his Leaving Cert.