Meetings between Mayo and Fermanagh have not been the most regular of clashes down through the years, you have to go back nine years for the last time the sides met in serious competition, and four years further for their last meeting in the qualifiers. The last time that Mayo tussled with Fermanagh in competitive action was way back in March 2007, when they squared off in the league in March of that year in Clones. Mayo ran out 0-12 to 0-7 winners that day, of the team that started for Mayo nine years ago, only three of them survive in the panel now, with Keith Higgins the only one who started in Clones on the starting 15 for Mayo's last game against Galway. Higgins lined out at corner back in that game, while both Alan Dillon and Andy Moran were in the full-foward line for a John O'Mahony managed team that was guided home to victory due in no small part to a six point return from Conor Mortimer over the hour.
The most famous meeting of the pairing in recent memory was the 2004 All Ireland semifinal after both sides secured famous quarterfinal wins, with Mayo dethroning the then All Ireland champions Tyrone on the same Croke Park afternoon that Fermanagh saw off Armagh. From that semifinal meeting that went to a replay Alan Dillon and Andy Moran are still with the Mayo set-up, Dillon started both of the games with Moran coming off the bench in the first meeting for Brian Maloney.
Of course our last meeting with the Ulster men in the qualifiers ended up with the wrong result for the Mayo faithful, with Fermanagh seeing off Mayo by a single point in a rain soaked Sligo on a scoreline of 0-12 to 1-8 after Mayo had been dumped out of the Connacht championship by Galway in the final. Alan Dillon is the only survivor from that meeting, where he lined out at wing forward. Mayo will be hoping for something different this time around.
