For all you rugby fans coming along for the ride, let me first take you on a detour through an amazing feat of Gaelic football. It happened only two months ago and it can still inspire Ireland on the way to the 2027 World Cup.
NEW: Track your favorites in the app 📱
Now you can follow their favorite teams, tournaments and players in the RugbyPass app!
As the N17 and the Green and Red of Mayo blared from loudspeakers across Croke Park, long-time supporters of Mayo GAA reveled in a triumph that ended a 75-year wait.
A football-obsessed county, Mayo last won the All-Ireland in 1951. They endured such tough times over the following decades – losing 11 finals along the way – that the urban myth of the ‘Mayo Curse’, imposed on the team by an irate priest, became an easily accepted story in GAA circles. The longer the streak of losers, the more drastic the heartbreaks, the curse grew stronger from a playful reminder to a crippling specter.
Tell that to 18-year-old Kobe McDonald or Eoin McGreal and Darragh Beirne, both 19. Young footballers have been named in Mayo’s senior panel for their latest run to All-Ireland glory this summer. Fresh in the squad, and unencumbered by past failures, the trio helped their country to the last final and played key roles in the victory over reigning champions Kerry that secured the Sam Maguire Trophy.
When Beirne, who scored a goal and three points in the final, got a phone call from manager Andy Moran and invited him to the senior panel, he was convinced it was the end. It’s not like that. “Andy said, ‘You’re coming into the senior team, you’re here to play, you’re not here to participate’,” Beirne recalled.
“He gave me that confidence that allowed me to go out and express myself. He told me, ‘Go out and have fun, play with a smile on your face’. That’s exactly what I did.”
McDonald graduated from high school, back in June, after taking his matriculation exams. Asked, amid celebrations, when his results were due to be announced, the teenager replied: “I have no idea, to be honest.”
The last Irish rugby player to gamble with his Leaving Cert exams while in the top tier of the senior team was Gordon D’Arcy. Back in 1998, Ireland wanted to tour South Africa, but the then Clongowes full-back decided to stay at home and see that stage of his education out. D’Arcy would make his debut for Ireland a year later, aged 19.
Teenagers breaking through at Test level for Ireland are extremely rare. After D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald (2007) and Rhys Ruddock (2010) are the last 19-year-olds to win senior caps for their country. Three in the past 30 years. France, on the other hand, have played three 19-year-olds in the last two years – Leni Nouchi, Marco Gazzotti and Théo Attissogbe. England have done so twice in the past four years, with Henry Arundell and Noah Caluori.
Each province has a hierarchy and a long line of seasoned professionals, all looking for game minutes and practice reps. It takes an extraordinary talent to break through before the age of 22.
With only four provinces in the Irish system, younger players must bide their time and prove themselves first in the United Rugby Championship, either the Challenge or the Champions Cup. James Ryan proved to be an exception to that rule in 2017, when he made his international debut before getting the chance to play for Leinster. Each province has a hierarchy and a long line of seasoned professionals, all looking for game minutes and practice reps. It takes exceptional talent to break through before the age of 22.
Over the past two years, Andy Farrell has started digging deeper to find potential for his World Cup squad. He was helped significantly by Simon Easterby and Paul O’Connell, in their interim coaching stints in 2025. From the 2024 summer tour to South Africa, Ireland made their 23-man Test debut. The average age of these debutants is 25 years and eight months. That average is increased by Oli Jager (29) and Tom Farrell (32).
Of that 23-man roster, eight were 22 or younger when they made their debut. Bryn Ward, Paddy McCarthy, Jack Boyle and Jamie Osborne were 22, Sam Prendergast, Hugh Gavin and Gus McCarthy 21. The youngest pup was Billy Bohan. At 20, the Connacht Loosehead became the youngest prop to play Test rugby for Ireland this century when he featured against Japan in the championship of nations.
“The younger guys are absolutely fearless,” Ireland openside Josh van der Flier tells me. “They bring that little bit of optimism and energy. Watching the likes of Billy and Bryn, they’re super, talented guys with great character, who bring a real spark. In every way, I feel, they add to the group. It also motivates the guys, because they see this young guy playing really, really well. They’re going to realize that everybody’s continuing to play their game so everybody should improve their game.” toes.”
In the same period, England and Wales handed out caps to 18 new players. Italy (15) has the fewest awarded debuts in the last two years, with Scotland on the 21st, South Africa 25 i Australia 29. France lead at 34, no doubt helped by the end-of-season tours Argentina and New Zealand, in 2024 and 2025, when the raft of big stars was rested or unavailable. Les Bleus have a significant advantage over most other nations, with 30 professional sides spread across the globe Top 14 and Pro D2.
Selecting two back-row players, for example, Attissogbe made 28 senior appearances (26 starts) for Pau until the moment he made his debut in France, at the age of 19. Connacht center Hugh Gavin made 11 appearances (eight starts) when he made his Ireland debut – scoring two tries in the process – against Portugal, aged 21.
• Ireland – 23 Test debuts awarded since July 2024 – Average age: 25 years, 8 months
• France – 34 Test debuts awarded since July 2024 – Average age: 23 years, 8 months
Simon Zebo made his senior Ireland debut against New Zealand at Eden Park in 2012. He was 22 and had two seasons with Munster below the belt. Having played in the URC and Top 14, he has a rounded perspective on both nations giving playing time to younger players.
“I thought we used to be like that, you know?” he says: “Giving younger players a chance. If you look at Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Earls, Conor Murray or even myself, there was a lot more of that in 2012. Maybe the game is changing a bit, I don’t know, or maybe the talent that has come up has gone down.
“We were exposed and had a decent time playing at an early age, but maybe at a time when there wasn’t as much scrutiny and pressure to get results as there seems to be these days. There’s a lot of moving parts about it. What I’ve always liked about France is that it’s always been the case, if you’re good enough, you’ll get that chance, I still like your chance. It’s still that. bide your time, bide your time for better or for worse, it’s hard to say, but I enjoy seeing young people sink in or swim.
The ‘chasm’ part of that perspective is the main drawback of pushing a young player too early. Of the latest crop of Ireland internationals, Jamie Osborne and Tom Clarkson have achieved the most success – both making the British & Irish Lions squad as late call-ups a year after their Ireland debuts. Gus McCarthy got off to a great start while Jack Boyle and Paddy McCarthy were well on their way until injuries disrupted their early progress.
Sam Prendergast made his debut for Ireland in November 2024, aged 21, and now has 17 caps. The Leinster The flyhalf has undoubtedly experienced the highest highs and lowest lows of those 23 debutants. He was named man of the match by a Six Nations victory over Scotland in Edinburgh and was in superb form in the home win over Australia last November. Prendergast won the Ireland cap at 10, then lost it to Jack Crowley, 12 months apart, only to regain it this summer when his rival missed out. The pressure on Prendergast was immense, and many of his detractors were annoyed by the perception that he was promoted ahead of a better player simply because of promise. It may be harder on the body in a few other positions, but those who want to wear the 10 jersey, regardless of age, need a stubborn mind.
The provincial system and statistics show that Ireland debuts tend to come for players between the ages of 24 and 26. That progression path – URC, then the Champions Cup, inclusion in the Irish national team and eventual debut – is well trodden.
Farrell and his assistants are clearly looking for a spark, heading into the World Cup countdown. The aging squad is infused with younger blood. The hope will be that the clutch will hold up. Looking back on his seven years in charge of Ireland, eight under-25s have dropped out of the side – Max Deegan (4 caps), Eric O’Sullivan (1), Gavin Coombes (4), Shane Daly (2), James Hume (3), Paul Boyle (1), Fineen Wycherley (1), Michael Lowry (1). It is too early to tell the nine players interim head coach Paul O’Connell has handed test bows against Georgia and Portugal, last summer.
The provincial system and statistics show that Ireland debuts tend to come for players between the ages of 24 and 26. That progression path – URC, then the Champions Cup, inclusion in the Irish national team and eventual debut – is well trodden. However, in recent years we’ve seen Farrell get bolder and younger with his selections. It would be worth watching to see if any of this year’s crop of Ireland U20s can come through over the next six to nine months. Josh Neill and Sam Bishti are two to watch closely, at Leinster, while Crowley and Will Harrison left out give Munster youngsters Tom Wood and Charlie O’Shea a chance for significant minutes in the URC and Champions Cup.
Mayo has long been darkened by the shadows of the past. Each failure is stamped on the collective consciousness of the district, which somehow kept coming back for more. The injection of youth was a key component in them ending that 75-year hunger for All-Ireland glory.
“I grew up coming to Croke Park, watching May make the final,” said Beirne, after reaching the pinnacle of his sport at 19. “This wasn’t new to me, I wasn’t nervous at all when I came here. Completely free-kick, nobody gave us any chance. We came out fighting it, we got Mayo home.”
“Me, Eoin and Darragh probably don’t understand the magnitude of what we’ve done either,” Macdonald would admit. “We’ve never been here before, it’s so unknown. I think one day, hopefully in the future, I’ll realize what we’ve accomplished.”
Mayo’s story is one, I hope, Farrell has followed closely. Ireland have had 10 World Cup failures, falling in the quarter-finals on a woeful eight occasions. Why not shake up the established formula by bringing in a few guys who are too young, brash and fearless to pull that weight of history with them?
