Letterkenny calling for unbeaten hurlers

GAA: National Hurling League

The Mayo senior hurlers will be looking to make it three wins from three on Sunday when they make the long trip to Letterkenny to take on Donegal.

Derek Walsh's charges picked up their second league win of the season last Saturday afternoon, when they saw off the challenge of local rivals Roscommon, by eleven points in Hyde Park.

On Sunday they will face a Donegal side that also beat Roscommon in round one, thanks to a late rally, but were beaten by 27 points on a scoreline of 4-29 to 0-14 by Kildare last weekend in Newbridge.

That clash was a meeting of the Christy Ring Cup (Kildare ) and Nickey Rackard Cup (Donegal ) champions from last term, with the Lillywhites showing the gulf in class between the two grades in devastating style in what was their first game of the season.

Mayo's last meeting with Donegal was in the aforementioned Nickey Rackard Cup final last Novemeber and they will be looking to make amends for that defeat in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

They kept up their good start to the season last weekend with a comprehensive win of their own over Roscommon in Hyde Park in a game that Keith Higgins hit 1-5 in and Shane Boland added four points to lead the scoring charts for Mayo.

Keith Higgins finished the day as Mayo’s top scorer, getting 1-5, while Shane Boland chipped in with four points to lead the scoring charts for Mayo.

The game was a nip and tuck affair for the vast majority of the opening half, but a run of points from Mayo injury time saw them go in leading 0-11 to 0-6 at the break. They landed five unanswered points through Gerald Kelly, Kevin Kiely, Shane Boland, Cathal Freeman and Keith Higgins in that run to set up the win.

Mayo reacted well to conceding a goal early in the second half to Roscommon, when Jack Lohan reacted quickest to bat the ball home from close range after Dolan's free dropped short and was parried away by Kelly in the Mayo goal.

They even shook off Freeman putting a penalty over the bar - before Keith Higgins netted a fortuitous goal to set them well on their way to victory with over a quarter of the game left to play.

Mayo will have a fortnight off after their outing this weekend, before they host Kildare in their final game of the league on Saturday June 12. A win on Sunday should see that game being a winner-takes-all league title and promotion decider, with just the league champions getting promoted to Division 2A for next season.

 

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