\u201cI shed a lot of tears coming in the road,\u201d says O\u2019Donoghue.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I fully believed [we would win] when I was going to the bus in MacHale Park on the Friday. I was like, \u2018The next time we\u2019re coming in this road, me and Seamus are going to be in the front of the bus with Sam.\u2019 That was literally a dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been unbelievable. It has been very special to see everyone go home to their own place, to their own fans, to their own families.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single place we went, there were thousands upon thousands. There were people coming from everywhere, from Waterford, Armagh \u2013 all probably just to see Kobe!\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, O\u2019Donoghue was named PwC Footballer of the Month for July and he is favourite to finish the season as Footballer of the Year.<\/p>\n
A talented sportsman, the 28-year-old could have pursued any number of codes \u2013 he was an underage boxer for Ireland and played schoolboys international soccer. But ultimately Gaelic football tugged at his heartstrings.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo walk up the steps of the Hogan and to lift that trophy, that is what I have dreamed of all my life,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
![\"Mayo's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/S4HBOIFQTG3C3TALE7MOHUOLRI.jpg\")
Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue was named player of the month for July. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n
O\u2019Donoghue started his soccer career with local club Erris United before a spell with Sligo Rovers. He won three caps with Ireland under-19s in 2016. But Belmullet never left him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I was up playing for the Irish schoolboys soccer team,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on a training camp in Dublin and you introduced yourself, I said, \u2018My name is Ryan O\u2019Donoghue, I\u2019m from Belmullet.\u2019 And a few boys went laughing and said, \u2018Where\u2019s that?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that stuck with me for a long, long, long time. And I think after last Sunday, a lot of people know where Belmullet is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Belmullet homecoming has been referenced by several other members of the Mayo panel and backroom team in recent days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is a bit different out in Belmullet. Like, it\u2019s harder, it\u2019s a lot longer for me to travel anywhere I go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably don\u2019t have the resources. We more than likely have probably the worst weather in the country. All these things add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he wouldn\u2019t swap it for anything. O\u2019Donoghue has even changed profession to live there \u2013 leaving a career as an accountant behind to become a teacher in his local school.<\/p>\n
![\"Mayo's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2A5OCZD55TEG35TIGRICMHIT2E.jpg\")
Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue lifts the Sam Maguire. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n
And only last Monday he lodged planning permission to build a home there. Not bad timing, to be fair. Because in a place where some folk would build a statue of O\u2019Donoghue, they\u2019ll hardly stop him from building a house.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back and done teaching. Obviously, it helped with the intercounty career but I also wanted to give back, so I\u2019m back in my home school.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelmullet also has one of the best golf courses in the world too, which helps. Courtney, my fianc\u00e9e, is from Belmullet as well so that\u2019s where my future is.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if the future is unwritten, O\u2019Donoghue has already etched his name in the history books. Not only was he man of the match in the All-Ireland final, but his incredible run started the season-defining goal.<\/p>\n
It started off with a one-two between himself and David McBrien on the Mayo 45-metre line. And then O\u2019Donoghue \u2013 facing incoming Kerry tacklers \u2013 hit the throttle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Well, I have to do something here.\u2019 I went by one, went by two, then went by three. I think it was Thomas Niblock on commentary saying there was just a wave of white jerseys coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcBrien, from turning it over in his own small D, he\u2019s then the one who gives it to Darragh over the top, whatever the hell that was that McBrien done (first-time slap pass) because I\u2019ve never seen him do that before! And then Darragh\u2019s cool finish, it was just class.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just all instinct, all off the cuff. That\u2019s something Andy gives us the freedom to do, to express yourself and to just go for it. Yeah, that\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mayo’s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/F6OIGNOML5B2RKNJV4LHWNA4WM.jpg\")
Mayo\u2019s Ryan O’Donoghue scores against Louth despite goalkeeper Niall McDonnell. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n
For O\u2019Donoghue, playing in a full-forward line alongside Kobe McDonald (18) and Darragh Beirne (19) felt re-energising. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey brought me back to my childhood and the reason why you play football. If you\u2019re out in the garden as a 10 or 11-year-old and you scored a goal in the top bins, you\u2019d go and do a knee slide, wouldn\u2019t you? <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m not saying for lads next year or in the club championships to be doing that, but you have to go and enjoy yourself. And that\u2019s what they did.\u201d <\/p>\n
The celebrations are certainly not finished but there might need to be some strategic pauses over the coming weeks as the Mayo club championship throws in. For O\u2019Donoghue, it starts on Friday evening at 7pm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing Knockmore,\u201d he says, before adding with a wry smile: \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think any of them were on the beer.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Ryan O\u2019Donoghue was named PwC Footballer of the Month for July. Kerry\u2019s S\u00edofra O\u2019Shea won the women\u2019s award. Galway\u2019s Ciara Hickey claimed the camogie accolade while the Hurler of the Month went to Limerick\u2019s Gear\u00f3id Hegarty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They know where it is now. Belmullet, not merely an outpost clinging to the western edge of Ireland,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,131567,19,17,26710,132],"class_list":["post-624706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-eire","tag-football-championship","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo-gaa","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117052213959155541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}