So is another Kevin Doyle story on the cards success wise? Perhaps, though there are as many differences as similarities between the two.

Both spent some time on the wing at Turner's Cross before sudden scoring bursts made them centre-forwards. Doyle has the neater touch, is better in the air and with his back to goal; O'Donovan more effective at running at defences and with more blinding speed.

And if Doyle is a naturally clinical finisher of chances, O'Donovan has shown enough to suggest he's on the way to becoming one. His stats are eye-catching too.

Eleven league goals at the back end of last season, even though he was only switched up front for the last eight games to go. He has 21 goals (14 league, seven in various cups) already this year, suggesting a player on an upward curve.

Chances are that gametime may be limited early on though. It'll be interesting to see whether O'Donovan starts from the back of the queue of Sunderland strikers or gets to jump a few spots. If Mido jumps on the bandwagon, that'll be six other forwards to compete with . . . Mido, Daryl Murphy and Michael Chopra look to be at the head of the bunch, Anthony Stokes and David Connolly will be getting runs here and there, depending on form, and O'Donovan will have to navigate a way into the middle of this bunch past Stern John.

If Roy Keane decides to go 4-5-1, which surely he will on occasions away from home, it might curtail his involvement even more, though O'Donovan does have the tools to play as one of the wide men in this formation. As much as anything is certain, he'll most likely improve. Daryl Murphy did so after an initial spell, Kevin Doyle went from a tidy forward with potential to an international-class striker who was nominated for Young Player of the season in his first year in the Premiership. Whether O'Donovan has the smarts to make this sort of growth or impact, we'll see; if he's being talked about for international squads come the spring it will be a good indication.

Does it represent good business from Sunderland and Cork City? Well, most certainly and it depends, in that order. Sunderland have taken a punt on a hungry, bright forward who's in the form of his life without hanging their season on him, without coughing up more than a million of Drumaville's notes and knowing that anything the good side of a few sparky early cameos and a handful of goals would be a decent return.

Cork City probably came away with as good a deal as they were likely to get . . . somewhere in the region of 500k up front with add-ons worth close to that again for appearances and international caps . . . especially for a player out of contract in November. (Yes, this has been a summer market where DJ Campbell earned Birmingham �1.6m after hitting nine league goals last season, Heidar Helguson was sold for �1m, Rob Earnshaw went for �3.5m and another youngish Irish forward, Stephen Elliot, went for around �1.1m.

Sunderland themselves paid �4m for Michael Chopra, who you'd imagine is a fair distance from international football, while a month or two of form would see O'Donovan get a call-up for Ireland. These are the constrictions clubs here work from though, fair or not. And remember, those figures are all in sterling. ) Anyhow, Cork City pulled an okay deal from a situation where their best player wanted to move to a Premier League club, same as with Alan Bennett back in January. Much as Pat Dolan might protest about the squandering of a talented group, fact is there's not a whole lot Cork City might have done differently.

Big club comes calling from across the water and players are going to have their heads turned . . . we're eons away from a time where any young buck who fancies a shot at the big time will think about staying at home for a career. Every club here is a selling club when the Sunderlands and the Readings are sending the faxes.

The clincher will be how Cork City use the money they've received for players this past while . . . used wisely it could turn out to be a good deal. With O'Donovan one of the last blue chip players in football here for the time being, there'll hardly be a glut of big-money sales to follow.