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The last four sides left standing in the Mayo Senior Football championship will go toe-to-toe over the weekend in what promises to be a thrilling couple of days of football in the county grounds.

There has been little time for rest for Castlebar Mitchels since the club scene swung back into action in recent weeks, they had last weekend off after their win over Ballintubber in the county final - but come tomorrow afternoon it is back to business as they welcome Leitrim champions Mohill to MacHale Park with a place in the semi-final of the Connacht championship up for grabs.

The Mayo GAA season kept moving this weekend with the semi-finals in both the senior and intermediate championships, a number of relegation games and some league deciders taking place over a hectic 30 hours or so between Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening.

Following their victory on the road in Tralee a fortnight ago, all eyes will be turned to MacHale Park tomorrow evening when Mayo host Roscommon in the third round of the National Football League. Whenever these sides meet, be it in pre-season competition on wet and boggy fields or in the height of summer, there is never an inch given by either side and tomorrow night's encounter is expected to be a similar encounter.

While David Clarke's intervention to stop a couple of goals going past him on Saturday took plenty of deserved plaudits in an excellent display, from the kicking tee the Ballina man also had an excellent night, Mayo won all but four of the kick-outs they took against Monaghan, with Clarke quick off the tee on most of his restarts finding his men close by.

Mayo's 2017 league opener ended in defeat to an aggressive and physical Monaghan in Castlebar last Saturday evening. Despite my declaration last week that Mayo should target the national league for silverware, the target very much now is about survival. Again applause must be given to the 11,000 or so hardy souls who turned out to support the team. The basis for this first round defeat is pure and simple, Monaghan were better prepared and had a better pre season as it was purely obvious going into the final quarter that they had spent more time on the paddock than Stephen Rochford's team.

Mayo wrappeded up their FBD League run for 2017 with a remarkable win over Roscommon on Sunday, we look back on a that win and pick out a few talking points. You can read our match report at http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/89983/moran-seals-miracle-ending-for-mayo

It may still only be January, but the meeting of Mayo and Roscommon at any stage of the season is always an encounter to look forward to, and on Sunday Mayo will make the long trek to Kiltoom to take on their neighbours in the final round of the FBD League.

Marking Time

The last time that the Mayo senior footballers were in action was the heartbreaking All Ireland senior final replay defeat to Dublin and since then they have been the talk of the country following an interview by their former managers. Almost all of that squad are currently on a team holiday in South Africa so for this Sunday's FBD League opener, it is going to be a very different looking Mayo side for supporters to get their voices behind for the first time this year, and concentrate on things on the field rather than off the field.