Familiarity can breed contempt, but there will be plenty of respect between the players of Mayo and Galway on Saturday afternoon when they come face to face once again on the field. Both parties will be continuing the GPA led protest by ladies players looking for equality in the game.
It will be the third meeting of the sides so far this year, but unlike their league and Connacht Championship meetings from earlier in the year, there is no room for error this time around, with a place in the All Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-finals up for grabs for the winners.
Mayo have the upper hand from their last meeting in the Connacht final, which they won on a scoreline of 3-12 to 2-9 but that game is an age ago, with both sides having to wait for long number of weeks before they got back to action in the group stages of the All Ireland Championship.
Michael Moyles' Mayo side finished in second place in their group, having lost to Armagh in their first game to a last minute penalty, before they turned over Laois at home in their second outing to book their place in the last eight.
Galway for their part shook off the disappointment of being beaten by Mayo in the provincial decider to top their group thanks to wins over Cork and Tipperary took gain home advantage for the quarter-finals and when the draw was made it pitted them against Mayo.
This is Moyles' third year in charge of the premier ladies' football team in the county and in each of those two previous years he has guided them to the All Ireland semi-final stage of the competition, beating tomorrows opponents in 2021 and then last year they overcame a fancied Cork side after a thrilling performance in Tullamore.
Moyles will be hoping that he will be able to see some game time from the likes of Tara Needham and Rachel Kearns who both missed out on their group games against Armagh and Laois, while Lisa Cafferkey also missed the game against Laois would be a welcomed return to the fray as Mayo look to get another one over Magnus Breathnach and Fiona Wynne's side.
In their absence both Sinead Walsh and Sinead Cafferky led the line in terms of scoring in pretty impressive style against Laois with the pair combining for 2-9 with Walsh getting 1-5 and Cafferkey 1-4. Mayo can also look to Shanua Howley to have a big impact in the game along with the experienced heads of Fiona McHale, Kathryn Sullivan, Deirdre Doherty and All Star defender Danielle Caldwell.
Galway were in rude goalscoring form in their groups games hitting the back of the net seven times in their games against Cork and Tipp, with four of the goals coming against the Premier County and three when they took down the Rebels. With Ailbhe Davoren and Katie Slevin nothing getting two each and the others coming from Tracey Leonard, Louise Ward and Lindsay Noone.
With so much at stake in this game, no quarter will be given by either side in what looks like being an exciting encounter out by Galway Bay. The game throws in at 1.30pm and is live on TG4.
