Michael Solan's Mayo u21s will face Donegal for the second week in a row, when they take on the Ulster men in the final of the North West Cup tomorrow in the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence in Scardan. Both sides met last weekend in the third round of the competition in Letterkenny with the hosts scraping home by a single point on a scoreline of 1-9 to 1-8 in O'Donnell Park.
The final pairing was confirmed on Wednesday night when Fermanagh ran out 4-11 to 0-14 winners over Sligo in a rearranged fixture, but the win was not enough for the Erne county men to pip Donegal to a place in the final, with Fermanagh finishing up with a scoring difference of +2, Donegal +4, and Mayo +24, after all three sides finished level on four points each in the group.
For last weekend's game, Mayo manager Solan made nine changes from the side who had dismantled Sligo with ease with the likes of Scott Kilker, Eoin O'Donoghue, David Kenny, Barry Duffy, Michael Hall, Morgan Lyons, and James Lyons all coming into the team. Matthew Flanagan, Eddie Doran, Seamus Cunniffe, Matthew Ruane, and Fionán Duffy were given the day off last time out.
Liam Irwin bagged Mayo's solitary goal the last day, his second in as many games, with both of them coming after he came off the bench, his goal brought Mayo to within a point of Donegal, but they were unable to close the gap over the closing minutes against Declan Bonner's men. But tomorrow they will have chance to gain some revenge in their last competitive outing before the championships starts later in the spring.
