Saturday February 25

Allianz Football League Division One

Mayo v Roscommon, Elverys MacHale Park, 7pm, Live on eir Sport

A month ago towards the end of a hard fought Connacht FBD League encounter Mayo, with Andy Moran prominent, finished with a flourish to beat Roscommon.

For a team with Mayo's pedigree and potential a January victory in Kiltoom wouldn't feature too high on the priority list, but it was a reminder of what the Green and Red can do.

While the Monaghan defeat in their Allianz League opener was a setback for Mayo the manner in which Stephen Rochford's charges responded in Tralee bodes well.

Mayo, backed by a vocal travelling support, went south, took a good scalp adding two important points to their Spring account.

That Roscommon haven't registered is a worry for Kevin McStay, who will know that a third straight loss would put them in severe difficulty.

The retirement and departure of several experienced Roscommon players is testing, but McStay's team produced a gritty display against Donegal.

Still for all of Roscommon's enterprise Conor Devaney's late goal wasn't enough to earn a share of the spoils with Eoin McHugh nailing the winning point for Donegal.

Roscommon weren't clinical enough against Tyrone in their opener and they will know that ruthlessness will be required in Castlebar.

Kevin Higgins' relevance to Roscommon shouldn't be understimated, while Enda Smith and Ciarain Murtagh are influential figures.

A bumper MacHale Park crowd will be watching on with Mayo intent on building on the Kerry triumph. Cillian O'Connor kicked the frees ending that contest with nine points, while Moran dashed about in attack too. Moran struck three from play, but it was his leadership and all round influence which truly mattered.

Donie Newcombe, Stephen Coen, Fergal Boland, Eoin O'Donoghue, and Shane Nally have been afforded game time for Mayo, who face Dublin at Croke Park on March 4.

Bringing a record of two victories from three into that encounter is exactly what Mayo will want to do. It won't be an easy task, though, because Roscommon need to stitch a sequence of positive results together too.

MAYO: David Clarke; Donie Newcombe, Keith Higgins, Paddy Durcan; Stephen Coen, Colm Boyle, David Drake; Donal Vaughan, Jason Gibbons; Fergal Boland, Kevin McLoughlin, Diarmuid O'Connor; Andy Moran, Cillian O'Connor, Jason Doherty.

ROSCOMMON: Colm Lavin; David Murray, Sean Mullooly, Niall McInerney; Ronan Stack, Seanie McDermott, John McManus; Shane Killoran, Tadhg O'Rourke; Fintan Cregg, Ciarain Murtagh, Enda Smith; Donie Smith, Tom Corcoran, Conor Devaney.