{"id":574837,"date":"2026-07-30T04:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574837\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:01:19","slug":"mayos-jordan-flynn-and-kobe-mcdonalds-mum-proud-of-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574837\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayo’s Jordan Flynn and Kobe McDonald’s mum proud of sons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen McDonald is officially the proudest mum in the country this week, with not one but two of her sons picking up All-Ireland medals for Mayo.<\/p>\n

Jordan Flynn and Kobe McDonald, along with their teammates and most of their home county, couldn’t believe it when the final whistle blew in this year’s All-Ireland final, beating the Kingdom. <\/p>\n

‘I don’t think we’ll ever feel that again,’ she says. But the Mayo mum not only has a special bond with her sons, but her relationship with their partners is just as special.<\/p>\n

\"MayoMayo players Kobe McDonald, left, and Jordan Flynn with their partners Leah Meheady, second from left, and Jessie Brown, after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Seb Daly\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

While supporters know Jordan and Kobe McDonald<\/a> as footballers, Karen still sees her sons as brothers who have always looked after one another. ‘I honestly don’t think they ever argued,’ she told EVOKE.<\/p>\n

The boys also have very supportive partners who have been by their sides through the good times and the bad. Jessie Brown and Jordan met when they were 14 and are due to get married in December. <\/p>\n

At the same time, Kobe<\/a> and Leah Meheady met in school and have been dating for three years. Having never had daughters of her own, Karen says the girls have become exactly that.<\/p>\n

\"KarenKaren McDonald, Kobe and Jordan. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n

‘I introduce them as my daughters,’ she tells us.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s chatting about the boys, helping each other through championship season, or laughing together, the three women have built a relationship that’s every bit as important as the one the brothers share.<\/p>\n

When championship football takes over life, Karen says both Jessie and Leah instinctively know when to give the lads space, with mum just telling the girls, ‘Leave him alone until after July.’<\/p>\n

\"KobeKobe McDonald of Mayo celebrates with his girlfriend Leah Maheady after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Stephen McCarthy\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

With Kobe heading to Australia to play AFL<\/a>, Karen knows her son will be fine with Leah by his side.<\/p>\n

While she said it may be strange to see her son head Down Under, she joked that there’ll be fewer gear bags and less washing around the house.<\/p>\n

Karen knows that this is an opportunity her son just has to grasp.<\/p>\n

Check out more shots in our gallery below: <\/p>\n

\"KarenKaren McDonald, Kobe and Jordan. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n

\"KobeKobe McDonald of Mayo with partner Leah Maheady, left, and Jessie Brown, fianc\u00e9 of Mayo player Jordan Flynn after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karen McDonald is officially the proudest mum in the country this week, with not one but two of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-574837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}