HE WAS THE apple of Mayo’s eye in New York a fortnight ago.
Their opening Connacht championship win was billed afterwards as The Ryan O’Donoghue Show.
The 2021 All-Star winning forward scored 1-13 — 1-4 from play — in a superb showing. It was the highest individual tally by any player against New York in their 25 years in the championship.
O’Donoghue accounted for 1-11 of Mayo’s first-half return of 1-13. The goal was well-taken: a backdoor cut, a sidestep to evade the next defender, and the ball coolly slotted home.
This was a masterclass in finishing, and earned extremely high praise from Kevin McStay at Gaelic Park.
“He’s a special talent, the best corner forward I’ve ever seen in my time – and that’s going back a little biteen,” the Mayo manager told The Western People.
“He’s a marvellous, marvellous player, and leads by example from start to finish. He’s just hyper-competitive and we’re delighted to have him on our team wearing a Mayo jersey.”
“He’s a scoring forward,” McStay added on the former soccer and boxing prospect. “His first move is towards scoring, then it’s pass or take on, but his option number one is scoring and that’s what he does.”
O’Dononghue’s record since his breakthrough season of 2020 speaks for itself.
He scored eight points, one a free, as he found his feet through the first Covid-impacted campaign. It culminated in an All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin; the Belmullet man clipping two points at an eerily-empty Croke Park that December.
2021 was the year he really rose to prominence. He moved through the gears with 1-4 (one free, two marks) across four league games, before he stepped up in the absence of Cillian O’Connor through the summer.
Mayo lost their talismanic free-taker through an Achilles injury sustained in a league game against Clare, and O’Donoghue volunteered himself to James Horan to assume the mantle.
He led the attack with 2-27 (1-8 from play) across five championship games, playing a central role as they returned to the All-Ireland final. O’Dononghue contributed 28% of Mayo’s 10-89 total in the championship, and finished with his first All-Star award.
He nailed his frees, and a high-pressure penalty in the Connacht win against Galway, but painfully hit the post from the spot early in the second half of the All-Ireland final loss to Tyrone.
O’Donoghue bounced back from that setback with 2-37 (2-7 from play) in the 2022 league. He was only held scoreless by Dublin, while he hit seven points against both Kerry and Armagh. The goals arrived from open play against Monaghan — he scored 1-6 overall that day — and Kildare. And while the competition ended in defeat to Kerry, O’Donoghue capped a relatively successful spring with 0-5 (three frees) in the final.
With O’Connor returning to full fitness, he didn’t shoulder full responsibility through the championship. His highest tally was 0-4 (one mark) in the Connacht exit to Galway, while he didn’t feature in the All-Ireland series as he headed Stateside.
But normal service resumed in 2023. O’Donoghue kicked 1-36 (25 frees, three marks) through Mayo’s drive to league glory, while he notched 0-23 (10 from play) in six championship matches. He finished with five points on three different occasions, including the semi-final defeat to Dublin. Three of the five came from open play.
This year, he has been Mayo’s outstanding performer in the full-forward line once again. He totalled 0-29 (20f) through the league, including 0-5 (2f) against Kerry, and 0-6 (3f) in a player-of-the-match performance versus Roscommon.
He was particularly instrumental in the closing stages of the win over Dublin in Castlebar, signing off with 0-7 (6f). He pointed a free to draw the teams level in the 64th minute, and 10 minutes later, showed quick thinking from one he won for the winner. The free was wide on the right, but he opted to pass inside to Fergal Boland, who bagged the decisive score from a more favourable angle.
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O’Donoghue has shown more variety and flexibility to his game than ever.
Generally a live-wire inside, he has proven just as effective when pulled further out the field. His low centre of gravity is a nightmare for opposition defenders, and he has mixed things up up by assuming more of a creator role of late.
His hand-passing and kick-passing has been excellent, offering much more than just shooting capabilities. He consistently assists, on top of scoring from play and dead balls, while his tackling and work-rate out of possession is key for Mayo.
Team-mate Tommy Conroy referenced when speaking The 42 a few years ago. “Ryan’s great to play with, he’s a great fella to link up with.
“One thing that really stands out over the last couple of years is his tackling. He’s probably one of the best tacklers we have. His tackle and turnover rate up top really sets the tone when lads back the field can see that going on.”
O’Donoghue’s hard work away from the lights has been key to his rise, too.
He has told stories of running two miles before school with his Dad driving in the van behind him during his days as a youth boxer. He would then run home from school before an arduous training session in the evening. U12 Boy 1 All-Ireland glory was a just reward, though he narrowly lost the next two finals.
Boxing taught him self-discipline while he has some lovely memories with his Dad as his coach, but ultimately making weight was a killer and likely turned him off the sport.
He had to go the other way as he bulked up for inter-county football. Nutritionist Evan Regan had him eating 4,000 calories a day at one point — a real challenge given his bland diet of plain chicken and pasta — while he spent countless hours in the gym to fill out.
It was a sharp transition after a promising soccer career, which saw the right-back spend three seasons with Sligo Rovers U19s and win a handful of caps for Ireland at schoolboys level.
But his heart was always with Gaelic football, and his dream was to play for Mayo.
He did that at the business end of underage level, and hasn’t looked back since.
“I would have first come across Ryan playing with the minors, and Ryan finished up with Sligo Rovers,” as Conroy remembered.
“He played U20s with us. He was captain of the U20s that got to the All-Ireland final in 2018.
“The biggest thing that stands out to me with Ryan is that he’s so driven, so motivated to make himself and his team-mates better. He’s a real standard-setter in training. Always wants to have the best, be the best. He wants to drive everyone else on with him.”
That, he will against Roscommon in their Connacht semi-final at Dr Hyde Park today.
Mayo can’t be overly reliant on him, but Ryan O’Donoghue has undoubtedly become their main attacking star in recent years.
