Being on top of the table in division one of the National Football League after only completing two games, while six of the other seven sides in the division have already played a game extra, has Mayo in good shape ahead of the visit of Down on Sunday to McHale Park.
The Ulster men are currently stuck to the bottom of the table after shipping a heavy defeat to Cork in round two and going down by six points when Kerry visited Páric Elser in Newry last Sunday. Their solitary win of the league campaign came when they edged out last year’s beaten All Ireland semi-finalists by a point.
James Horan's Mayo picked up their second win of the league last Saturday night when they took the points home from what on paper looked like a very difficult assignment away to Armagh. But a blistering start in both the first and second half laid the foundation for an impressive win by Mayo.
The midfield pairing of Aidan O'Shea and Barry Moran were a key combination to Mayo getting the points last weekend, with the efforts of both men seeing Mayo more than break even in the middle third of the field. Up front both Enda Varley and Alan Freeman were in eye catching form, with the Garrymore corner forward bagging four points from play over the 70 minutes. Freeman was selected to start out on the centre half forward line, finished up with five points, four of them coming from placed balls, of which he won half of the frees himself in a scoring positions. Both Conor Mortimer and Andy Moran had one of the pair’s quietest games in the green and red. But at the end of the day Mortimer finished up with four points and Moran scored the only goal of the game, which was vital in imposing Mayo's dominance on the scoreboard early on.
At the back, Mayo supporters will have been happy to see the return of Ger Cafferky from injury at full back, and after a testing opening couple of minutes the Ballina man steadied the ship well for the rest of the game. The Mayo half back line was also quite eye catching last Saturday night, with Westport’s Lee Keegan further laying claim to a full time starting berth in the side with another impressive all action display. Richie Feeney got stuck in all over the park and even popped up in attack on a number of occasions, with Donal Vaughan marshalling the defence from his central position. But it was one of the replacement defenders who late on had probably the most important intervention in the game to ensure Mayo's win. Colm Boyle came on for Kevin Keane, and with Armagh having cut the gap back to only three points with barely five minutes left on the clock, Boyle had to throw his body in the way of the ball which looked destined to nestle in the back of the net. He did so spectacularly and ended up tangled in the back of the net for his efforts and requiring treatment after his last gasp block. At that stage Mayo were on the rocks, after failing to push on from their early spurt at the start of the second half, Mayo also faded away in the second period of the first half allowing Armagh to cut the gap down, and trying to remedy that fade out will be something that Mayo will have been working on this week.
But what this league campaign so far has given is selection headaches for James Horan. Peadar Gardiner, Kevin McLoughlin, and Cillian O'Connor all sat out last Saturday's game, while the likes of Seamus O'Shea, Pat Harte, and Boyle all came on during the game and all six and more will be looking to make the starting 15 come Sunday, provided those who have injuries have recovered in time. Throw in on Sunday is at 2.30pm in McHale Park.
Hurlers look for second win in the under-card contest
The action in McHale Park on Sunday will get under way at 12.45pm when Meath come to visit in division 2B of the National Hurling League. Murt Connolly's Mayo will go into the game in a positive frame of mind coming on the back of their 0-16 to 1-8 win over Roscommon in Athleague in the first round. However this time around Mayo will have to do it without the services of their captain Keith Higgins, who will be required for action by the footballers a couple of hours later in their game. The pressure will fall on the shoulders of the likes of Cathal Freeman who scored four points in that win over Roscommon and Brian Hunt who threatened every time he got on the sliothar in that game. Kenny Feeney who came off the bench in that game to get on the scoreboard will be pushing for a place on the starting 15 come Sunday. Sunday's opponents have two games under their belt already in the league having made the trek across the water to Ruislip last weekend. Meath picked up their first win of the campaign in that game when they came out on the right side of a 2-8 to 0-7 scoreline. They were also unlucky to go down by two points to Kildare in the first round of the competition, the Lilywhites being one of the strongest sides at this level of hurling and will be one of the favourites to take the honours come the end of the league.
For those who are going along to the football clash on Sunday, it would be great if they could make the trip to Castlebar a bit earlier and give Connolly's men some support on Sunday. The sliothar will be thrown in at 12.45pm in two day's time.
