Mayo goalkeeper David Clarke.
By Cian O'Connell
There is always an edge when the Green and Red collide with the Maroon and White.
Regardless of the grade or competition it remains a gripping rivalrly out west, especially after what happened in Elverys MacHale Park a year ago.
Mayo had claimed five Connacht Championships in a row, but Kevin Walsh's Galway executed a daring ambush.
Stephen Rochford's charges recovered impressively to reach the All Ireland Final, but Mayo's highly respected goalkeeper David Clarke admits preparation might be a little different for the June 11 Pearse Stadium tussle.
"Yeah, I suppose look any Mayo person has a bit more between the teeth when they play Galway and they want to win," Clarke says. "Last year was disappointing, we had been reigning champions in Connacht for a number of years and they took that off us.
"There will be no trophies handed out in three weeks’ time either. The important thing is to get ourselves right as much as we can and see can we give a really good performance.
"It’s difficult in Salthill, we have probably got the better off them down there in the last few years and they came down here last year and turned us over against all the odds.
"We have to go up there now to try to turn them over."
Clarke was delighted to see Ballina Stephenites colleague Ger Cafferkey back in Mayo colours following a couple of injury ravaged campaigns.
"Yeah I played four or five club games with him there, so we are back together the last while," Clarke remarked.
"It's great to see Ger because he has worked so hard and it’s a tough injury to come back from.
Diarmuid O Connor scored a first half goal for Mayo.
"It’s great credit to him and he didn’t lose any pace; that’s for sure."
On Sunday in windy conditions Mayo had sufficient character and craft to deal with Sligo's spirited challenge. What was Clarke's verdict on the Mayo display? "Good bits and bad bits, there was a tough breeze," Clarke reflected.
"All throughout the League I don’t think we had a day as bad as that with the wind. The elements dictated the game, we worked hard against the breeze in the first half and we were reasonably happy going in at half time four points up."
Diarmuid O'Connor's goal just before the interval was a key moment according to Clarke. "The goal was probably vital," Clarke stated. "In the second half we’d be disappointed with our intensity levels and we pulled away in the end. When you get that type of victory - any day you are going to be happy."
All that truly mattered for Mayo was securing a trip to Salthill. "It’s just good to get the first one out of the way, all we were thinking about was this game because last year we were caught badly here in Castlebar," Clarke commented.
"We gave Sligo as much respect as we could and in fairness they put it up to us. Flat or not; I thought we did well in the first half.
"There was a tough breeze, we fought well and we had that lead at half time. In the second half we’d be disappointed with the last 10 or 15 minutes until we got the goal.
"There’s bits we’d be happy with, but a lot of bits we need to work on. Obviously you need to improve game by game and Galway in Salthill is going to be a different story."
