Mayo will be looking to get over the disappointment of last weekend's defeat to Galway in the Connacht Ladies Senior Football Championship Final replay when they open their account in the All Ireland Senior Football Championship group stages.
Mayo will be hitting the road again tomorrow evening when they head to Ulster to take on Tyrone in Healy Park, with the game throwing in at 5pm in the Omagh venue.
The Ulster side were eliminated from the provincial championship by eventual winners Donegal at the quarter-final stage, going down 3-13 to 2-12 at the start of June at the end of a hard fought encounter.
Tyrone moved up to the senior grade this year after winning the All Ireland intermediate title and despite going down to a Donegal side who went on to claim their third Ulster title in a row - they put up a very good showing on the day.
Maria Canavan was their main score-getter in that game, hitting 1-8 of her side's tally, while Niamh McGirr hit their other goal in that defeat. Mayo's opponents on Sunday played their league football in division two and finished second bottom of the table with seven points, but as they showed against a top level Donegal side, they will be no pushovers for Mayo.
It will be a quick turnaround for Mayo after going down to Galway last Saturday in Limerick - but Peter Leahy will be confident that his side possesses the tools to pick up a win that should see them through to the knock-out stages of the competition. The ladies championship at this point is divided into four groups with three teams in each group, with the top two sides in each group making the last eight of the competition. The other side in this group is the aforementioned Ulster champions Donegal, who Mayo will play in a home venue on the weekend of July 27/28.
Mayo will look to improve on their showing last weekend, where the concession of two first half goals really put a dent in their chances of reclaiming the provincial title - they will be looking to get a much better scoring return up front too, having only registered nine points over the duration of the game, five in the first half and four in the second. The Mayo attack, which features the likes of Niamh Kelly, Sarah Rowe, Rachel Kearns and Grace Kelly, do possess the tools to cause any defence serious concerns if they click.
Danielle Caldwell put in a player-of-the-match display in the drawn Connacht final at the back and along with Ciara McManamon and Roisin Flynn, will be looking to keep tabs on the Tyrone attack to lock down the Mayo defence, while Clodagh McManamon and Dyna Finn are an athletic and imposing midfield duo that will be confident of giving the Tyrone middle third a lot to think about.
