Four changes for Mayo as Sligo championship clash looms

Mayo manager James Horan has named a strong team for Saturday's Connacht SFC quarterfinal against Sligo in Markievicz Park, despite the absence of both Cillian and Diarmuid O'Connor due to injury.

In total, the named team shows four changes to the starting 15 that defeated Clare in Ennis, with Conor Loftus coming into the middle of the park to partner Mattie Ruane in Diarmuid O'Connor's absence.

Aidan O'Shea (Breaffy), who will captain the team on Saturday, replaces Cillian O'Connor at full-forward, while Kevin McLoughlin will make his 150th appearance for Mayo between league and championship.

The Knockmore stalwart is just the third Mayo player to reach this mark after Andy Moran and Keith Higgins.

Aidan O'Shea and Lee Keegan, meanwhile, will make their 70th and 60th championship appearances, respectively.

This Saturday's game will be the 59th championship meeting of Mayo and Sligo. The first was in 1905, with the most recent in 2017. Of the 58 previous meetings of Mayo and Sligo, the Green and Red have won 45, Sligo have won eight, and five games have been drawn.

The Mayo starting 15 in full is: Rob Hennelly; Enda Hession, Oisin Mullin, Lee Keegan; Paddy Durcan, Michael Plunkett, Eoghan McLaughlin; Matthew Ruane, Conor Loftus; Kevin McLoughlin, Darren McHale, Bryan Walsh; Tommy Conroy, Aidan O'Shea, Ryan O'Donoghue.

The Sligo team has also been named. It is: Eamonn Kilgallon; Ryan Feehily, Eddie McGuinness, Evan Lyons; Keelan Cawley, Paul McNamara, Darragh Cummins; Patrick O’Connor, Paul Kilcoyne; David Quinn, Cian Lally, Mikey Gordon; Nathan Rooney, Niall Murphy, Seán Carrabine.