The Mayo hurlers will face a long trip to Crossmaglen on Sunday afternoon where they will be looking to keep their unbeaten record intact against the Ulster men. Murt Connolly’s side followed up their win over Roscommon in Athleague on the opening day with a spirited draw against a fancied Meath side in McHale Park. The draw has kept Mayo in second place in the league table behind leaders Kildare and the 3-28 that Mayo have scored so far this year is a more than encouraging sign. The fact that Mayo managed to rack up 3-12 last weekend without Keith Higgins who was on football duty is another major plus for Connolly’s Mayo side.
For their part last weekend, Armagh saw off the challenge of Roscommon by six points on a scoreline of 1-20 to 1-14. That win followed up a 2-20 to 0-11 clipping that they were given by London in Ruislip in their opening game. The Ulstermen have also been in good form in the pre-season competitions reaching the final of the Keogh Shield in the early stages of the new year.
The 1-20 put on the scoreboard by Armagh in their win over Roscommon saw six different players contribute to the scoreboard with the half forward line contributing 1-13 of that total alone. Ryan Gaffney was their top scorer from his centre half forward position grabbing 1-3 over the 70 minutes. With his wing men Declan Coulter and David Carvil both chipping in with five points each.
For Mayo’s part they will be looking for Kenny Feeney to keep up his good form from last Sunday where he bagged 1-6 for Mayo during the game. Feeney at full forward alongside Cathal Freeman who lined out at wing forward and scored 0-4 from play, and Stephen Hoban who scored 1-1 will be Mayo’s go-to attackers on Sunday afternoon in Crossmaglen. It will be a six day turn around for Mayo after Sunday’s game as they have to hop across the Irish sea to London to take on the exiles in Ruislip on Saturday week. A win in both games would set Mayo up nicely for their last league game against Kildare at home on April Fools Day and a place in the divisional final a fortnight later up for grabs.
