The Mayo senior hurlers will pass the half-way mark of their league season on Sunday when they take on Down in Páirc Esler in Newry at 2pm. Christy Phillip’s side will be looking to bounce back from a five-point defeat at the hands of Meath in Trim last time. That defeat leaves Mayo with a notch in both the win and loss columns so far and has them locked in a four-way tie on two points each with Fingal, Wicklow, and Meath from the opening two rounds. Sunday’s opponents are sitting two of the division 2b table with two wins from two having seen off Wicklow and Armagh. Their win over the Orchard County in the first round was particularly impressive where they ran up 2-20 on their hosts in the Athletic Grounds.
Mayo will have to find their scoring touch on Sunday, having only registered seven points in their last outing against the Royals, with Cathal Freeman the only man to score from play and Kenny Feeney the only other player to manage to get on the scoreboard with him over the 70 minutes. This lack of scoring punch is something that Christy Phillips and his coaching staff will have been working hard on over the past fortnight, as on Sunday Down are not going to show Mayo any mercy and every score will be vitally important to keep Mayo in touch if they want to have a chance of bringing home the points from this long road trip.
Philips will be looking to the likes of Freeman, Feeney, Derek McDonnell, Adrian Connolly, Paddy Barrett, and Stephen Hoban to really step up to the mark on Sunday come 2pm.
