Mayo face kerry in opening league game

A new adventure beckons for the Mayo team, management and supporters as the first round of the national football league throws in this Sunday when Mayo make the long trek to Killarney for a 2 p.m. start against Kerry.

While the league is the springboard for launching a shot at the championship, it is imperative that Mayo retain their division one status while also pushing to make it to the knockout stages. But survival will really be the name of the game in what is once again a tough competition to win points in.

I expect Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly will send a strong army to Kerry in the hope of wresting the points from the team who knocked them out of the 2014 championship.

What state Kerry are in at the moment is not clear but the chances are they will not be as well prepared as Mayo having only recently returned from their holiday which was part of the reward for winning the Sam Maguire.

Mayo never need much motivation against the Kingdom and hold a very good record against them in league football having beaten them last year in Castlebar.

This is a much more difficult tasks but following a weekend game between a Mayo A and B side, word from the Mayo camp is that all the top players are ready for action and very few changes are expected from the side which lost that replay to Kerry which went to extra-time in Limerick last August.

It will be remembered that both Cillian O’Connor and Aiden O’Shea collided in that game, resulting in concussion to both players, but this time round O’Connor will be watching from the wings as he serves a one-match ban having picked up a red card last August.

Mayo have used the FBD league to run the rule over a number of players and the likes of Neil Douglas and Evan Regan could well feature on the starting 15, while Adam Gallagher seems to be showing some good form and I expect the Under 21 player to start.

Others from that Under 21 panel have indicated they have something to offer and a few of them will gradually find their way into the panel as Mayo contemplate three away games, Derry and Cork the other two, while they face Monaghan, Donegal, Tyrone and that fascinating clash under floodlights against Dublin at home.

It is going to take a few months for the new management team to feel their way as they try to impose whatever system they feel will suit the talent that is available to them.

Regardless of how the league pans out, Mayo remain one of the top four teams in the country on last year’s record and there is nothing to suggest that is going to change this year.

A prerequisite for Mayo pushing on again this year is an improvement in the forward division and if the new management team can come up with a few new hands to help out in this department, then the outlook has to be positive.

I also think they will squeeze past Kerry in this opener giving Kerry’s notorious slow start to the league. They always do enough but seem to put in their hard work at the latter end of the campaign.

Verdict: Mayo by three points...