'Goldilocks' proves the doubters wrong
Although mocked by pundits and opposition players for his flamboyant appearance, Ciaran McDonald has emerged as one of the saviours of the Mayo football team. By Ciarán Murphy
Before the second test of the International Rules series in Croke Park in 2004, the Australian team decided that Ciaran McDonald, with his flamboyant, cornrow-style hairdo could be "got at". Three Australian players set upon him just before kick-off and gave him a ferocious pounding. McDonald got up, dusted himself off and went on to give the Australians a lesson. He even scored one 30-yard pass in the second half, hit 'blind' with the outside of his boot under the Hogan Stand.
Opposition players are not the only ones to target Mayo's star player for his appearance. On The Sunday Game in 2004, he was referred to as "Goldilocks". Pat Spillane said later that year that Mayo fans wouldn't care if he wore "frilly knickers" as long as he kept his form up.
Despite the sneers, McDonald is no softie. He played an All-Ireland under-21 final on a broken ankle, and is one of the most physically powerful players in the current Mayo side. His physique is not a product of the gym – he works long hours as a pipe-layer with his father for the contract firm Ward and Burke.
Ciaran McDonald's Mayo career began in earnest in 1997, when his side reached the All-Ireland final only to be beaten by Kerry. Mayo were good then, but not good enough – they had also lost the previous year's All-Ireland final to Meath.
After the 1997 final, Mayo's form dipped, and so too did McDonald's standing in his home county. Although his influence on his club side, Crossmolina Deel Rovers, increased, the pressure to reproduce that form for Mayo became almost unbearable. Breaking point finally came when he was heckled from the stands during a league game against Fermanagh in 2003. McDonald walked off the pitch and refused to play for his county for the rest of the year.
His returned rejuvinated for the 2004 championship, and his form has seldom dipped below sublime since. He was one of the few Mayo players to emerge from the trouncing by Kerry in the 2004 final with his reputation enhanced, and his selection on that year's All-star team was a no-brainer.
McDonald was named Mayo captain in 2005, but he could do little to inspire another push to the All-Ireland that year, and his side was knocked out in the quarter-finals. Northerners Mickey Moran and John Morrison were surprise appointments to take charge of the county team in 2006, but they have engineered Mayo's thrilling advance to this year's All-Ireland final, where they will meet Kerry for the third year running.
If Ciaran McDonald is an extrovert on the field, he is an enigmatic character off it. He refuses all interview requests. All the public gets to hear from him are the bland soundbites he issues when being presented with man of the match awards on The Sunday Game.
His form dipped earlier this year, but he had by far his most effective display against Dublin in the semi-finals, crowned of course by that wonder point which settled the affair. His display in the All-Ireland club final of 2001, when he scored seven amazing points to lead Crossmolina to their first ever All-Ireland club title, was proof that he can do it when the need is greatest.