The Mayo League will head south to Doora in Ennis tomorrow at 5pm when they take on the Clare League in the second round of the Oscar Traynor Trophy. In their four team group all sides are locked on one point each after a series of 1-1 draws in round one, with Mayo drawing with the Roscommon League, and the Clare League and Galway League also finishing tied at one goal each.
In their opening game the Clare League were pegged back by the Tribesmen late on when Gerry Dolan got in on the end of a Colm O'Donovan pass with four minutes left on the clock to grab the draw. The Mayo League's opponents on Saturday, had taken the lead after 26 minutes thanks to David McCarthy who swept the ball past James Keane to put the Clare League into the lead, and only for a fine display by Keane in the Galway goal it could have been a victory for the men from Clare. Last year the Clare League reached the semi-final of this competition where they were beaten 1-0 by the Innishowen League in the penultimate round of the competition, which outlines the tough task ahead for Mayo tomorrow.
As for the Mayo League they needed their own late, late, strike from Ballina Town marksman Benny Lavelle to grab a point against Roscommon four weeks ago in round one. Joseph N'Do's troops know that a win tomorrow evening will be key to their progressing out of the group stages of this competition. The back four of Sean Morrissey, Stevie Ryan, Sean Kelly, and Danny Broderick will need to be on top of their game in Ennis to snuff out the threat posed by the Clare attack of Daryl Eade and Colin Smyth who caused the Galway League side plenty of problems in round one. While in the middle of the park, last time out Mayo went with Conor Byrne, Pat Fitzgerald, Colm Nevin, and Conor High against Roscommon, and all four will be needed to put on big showings again on Saturday if selected to make sure Mayo have a foothold in the game. While up front JP O'Gorman and Jamie Fallon got the nod the last day, but with Lavelle making a goal scoring cameo from the bench the Ballina ace could be in line for a starting spot come tomorrow evening.
