Saturday afternoon is going to be a busy day on the inter-county scene, with the Mayo senior footballers getting their league campaign up and running, and the senior hurlers taking on Roscommon in their second league game.
But it will also mark the start of a new dawn for another Mayo inter-county team, when the Mayo senior Camogie team take to the field at the start of the national league, for the first time in a long number of years.
The team will be under the guidance of Jimmy Lyons from Aghamore, alongside Sinead Muldoon from Westport and Ger Doherty from Na Brideoga. Lyons has a stellar background in football, having managed his club at both senior and u21 level and represented the county at all levels from minor to senior.
Mayo will be plying their trade in group two of Division Four of the league alongside Roscommon, Kildare and Louth and they will get their adventure under way on Saturday afternoon on the road in Ballyforan against Roscommon.
The team will be captained this year by Islandeady native, Helen O’Malley, who plays her club game Camogie with St Judes in Dublin, but she is unfortunately injured at the minute and won't make this weekend's game; with the rest of the panel made up of players from the likes of Na Brideoga, who claimed an All Ireland Junior B club title in 2019, along with players from Castlebar and Westport.
Mayo will be in for what is expected to be tough examinations from both Roscommon and Kildare in their opening two games, with both of those sides playing at a higher grade in the championship when it swings into life after the league. Mayo’s third game will be against Louth, who will be in the same junior championship competition as Mayo this Summer.
Roscommon will have a familiar face to GAA followers in Mayo on the line for them tomorrow, with former Mayo Ladies football manager and Dublin Camogie manager Frank Browne taking over the side this term.
