Mayo will face another tough examination on Sunday when they make the trip to the midlands to take on league leaders, Westmeath, in round four of the national hurling league.
Derek Walsh's side were given a serious lesson about the standards they aspire to reach last Sunday, when Antrim came to Ballina and went home with the two points in the bag. This followed a devastating performance that saw them run out 5-18 to 0-13 winners - despite playing for more than half of the game with 14 players and finishing the contest with 13, after they picked up two red cards.
Antrim ran in four first half goals to end the game as a contest through a brace from Nigel Elliot and one each from Ciaran Clarke and Ryan McCambridge, with James McNaugton capping his man of the match performance with their fifth goal of the day.
The league is a learning curve for Mayo stepping up to this division against opposition that are used to mixing it with some of the best in the business and they will gain valuable experience from each outing as they prepare for the Nicky Rackard Cup in the summer time.
On Sunday they will face a Westmeath side who have won four from four so far in the league - last weekend they had three points to spare over Meath, winning on a score of 1-20 to 0-2, with Robbie Greville hitting 1-5 for his side in Mullingar. The Westmeath men have beaten each of the four other sides in the division they have faced so far and will wrap up their regular run of league games with the visit of Mayo. Mayo meanwhile will be looking to put in a solid performance this weekend before they head to London for their refixed round two game against the exiles next weekend, where a positive result should see them hold on to their place in the division for next year.
