This time last year the Mayo were riding a crest of a wave seeing off all comers in the league going right up to the final of the competition unbeaten. They followed that up with a good go at the championship, only to come undone in the most cruel of circumstances — a buzzer beating free from Dublin right at the death.
This year things have not gone to plan just yet for Frank Browne's side, they have picked up just one win from their opening four games and last time out they were beaten by seven points by the All Ireland champions Cork at home in Swinford. On Sunday Mayo will hit the road north to face a Donegal side who currently sit two places and three points in front of them in the league table.
Mayo will be looking for a better scoring return from their entire attacking unit on Sunday when they head north, last time out just two players registered scores for them with Cora Staunton kicking eight points - all from frees and Sarah Rowe finding the back of the net. Getting just one score from play over the course of the hour is not going to cut it at this level and this Mayo outfit know this well.
Donegal picked up their two wins so far this season in rounds one and two, seeing off Armagh on a score of 4-10 to 0-11 on the opening weekend, before getting one over on the road against Galway in round two, squeezing past them by a single point on a score of 2-10 to 1-12. Since then they lost by the bare minimum to Kerry on the road in round three, and were soundly beaten by Dublin in the last round. Mayo for their part lost narrowly to both Galway and Monaghan in the first two rounds, before seeing off Armagh in a epic encounter in the third round, before Cork saw them off last time out. A win in this game is a must for Mayo if they want to avoid a battle to avoid the drop over the coming weeks.
