Mayo are right in the middle of a relegation fight in Division One of the LGFA National Football League and the big games keep coming for them.
On Sunday afternoon they will be welcoming old rivals Galway to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park for what they hope will be a victory that can see them pull themselves away from the foot of the table.
Mayo have just one win to show for their efforts so far this season, that coming against Meath on the road - but they have been seen off by Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Dublin in their other four outings. All of those defeats have been narrow ones with their opening day loss to Cork by five points the biggest gap they have been beaten by.
Their last outing against Dublin will be one that will have disappointed them, having led the game for a long period, before getting caught at the end by the metropolitans with a couple of sucker goals to go down to a four point loss.
The visitors come to Castlebar with an unbeaten record having only dropped points in their round three drawn encounter with Meath in round four. Either side of that they have taken care of Donegal and Dublin in rounds one and two and then Cork and Waterford in rounds four and five.
Mayo will be hoping they can keep things tight at the back in their quest for victory on Sunday, the Meath game was the only game they haven't conceded goals in so far this season, with nine goals going into their net in their five outings so far a crucial factor in their losses. The defence will have to be right on their games from the get go, albeit Galway have only bagged two goals themselves over the league campaign.
The Mayo attackers like Shauna Howley, Sinead Walsh, Lisa Cafferkey and Rachel Kearns will be hoping to prise open what for the most part (bar the four goals they conceded against Cork, the only game they have conceded goals in ) has been a very scrooge like Galway rearguard.
The current situation in the table sees Donegal who Mayo will face in their final round robin game sitting on the bottom of the table with zero points from five games, Mayo are next on three points with Meath on four ahead of them. Then comes Waterford and Cork on seven points, Dublin on nine and Galway and Kerry well out in front as the top two on 14 and 15 points respectively.
The Mayo and Galway clashes always tend to be tough and tight encounters, and Mayo will be happy if they can emerge on the right side of one of those on Sunday afternoon.
