MONAGHAN MAYO

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS

It’s a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire in Monaghan’s Allianz NFL campaign as they go from travelling to the All-Ireland champions to hosting 2021 runners-up Mayo in Clones this Sunday. These are two of the six Division One teams who go into this weekend on the back of draws in the first round, as Mayo rallied in the closing stages to secure a dramatic draw with Donegal.

On a weekend where goalkeepers hit the headlines, Mayo’s number one Rob Hennelly made two crucial interventions to gain a point for the Connacht champions: first saving a Patrick McBrearty penalty and later booting over a superb equalising free. These teams last met just under two years ago, not long before the pandemic shut the season down, when Monaghan ran out surprisingly comfortable winners at St. Tiarnach’s Park. That was during an uncharacteristic league campaign for Mayo, which saw them fall out of the top tier for the first time in more than two decades.

Mayo’s stint in Division Two – which followed 23 years in the top tier – was a brief one, as they breezed their way to promotion last year. James Horan’s side made light of the absence of the injured Cillian O’Connor to go all the way to another All-Ireland Final, but despite what should have been a watershed win over Dublin in the last four, they underperformed…