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It started and ended with a handbags being thrown, but in the seventy odd minutes in between Mayo did what they needed to do and saw off Galway in a sun splashed Pearse Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The main man on the day for Mayo was Aidan O’Shea who put in a show stopping performance where he tormented the Galway defence for the full seventy minutes. The big Breaffy man was hauled to the ground so often in desperation by Galway defenders that his knees will be sore for a few days from the impact of landing.

Cillian O'Connor has won his race to be fit for the start of the championship and has been named at full forward for Sunday's showdown with Galway. Former team captain, Andy Moran has also returned to the starting 15 and will line out at corner forward with Jason Doherty in the opposite corner to Moran.

Not to be bullied around the middle third

The time is nigh. Mayo will put their Connacht championship on the line when they travel to Salthill in Galway to take on the home side in the Connacht semi-final on Sunday. It has been 10 weeks since we watched the green and red in competitive action, but the time seems to have just dwindled away, such was the anticipation about what may unfold in Salthill.

It’s been a long wait and it's nearly over. Since Mayo last tasted competitive action almost every other county has been involved in championship action, with Sligo the only side to have not got their summer underway by the time Mayo throw in against Galway on Sunday. This will be the first proper test of the Holmes and Connelly management ticket in the white heat of championship action and they couldn’t have asked for a more traditional joust than a meeting with Galway in their own back yard.

I’d always be open to progression and forward thinking in the GAA but I can’t get my head around Galway competing in the Leinster Hurling Championship. It doesn’t sound right. Galway; Leinster hurling champions. It did, of course, happen a number of years ago when the Galway hurlers defeated Kilkenny in the Leinster hurling final. That victory, in my opinion, cost Galway an All-Ireland title as Kilkenny went on to beat Galway in a replay in the All-Ireland final later on that year.

The only thing that really mattered last Sunday in Carrick-on-Shannon was that Galway won and they left  injury free and with no red cards.

The Mayo senior hurlers will be hoping to avoid moving one step closer to falling through the trapdoor into the Nicky Rackard Cup for next season when they take on Wicklow in Mullingar tomorrow. JP Coen's side lost out to Kildare in a seesaw encounter in James Stephens Park in Ballina last Saturday, and now have 70 minutes to ensure their Ring Cup status for next season and avoid the relegation/promotion final which will see the losers of this game take on the winners of the Rackard Cup on Saturday June 13 for the right to compete in the Christy Ring Cup next season.

Mayo’s interest in this years Christy Ring Cup came to an end in James Stephens Park on Saturday afternoon, when a storming Kildare second half performance saw the Lilywhites turn around a nine point deficit into a comfortable five point win.

There couldn't be a much tougher task for JP Coen's Mayo senior hurlers if they are to have any interest in championship hurling beyond the middle of May tomorrow. James Stephens Park in Ballina will be the venue for the meeting of Coen's side and last year's Christy Ring Cup champions, Kildare, in the winner takes all round 2b clash. Mayo lost out to Derry in Owenbeg a fortnight ago by two points, while Kildare were finally defeated by London in a replay in St Conleth's Park in Newbridge last weekend. Both sides finished level after extra time in the Emerald Grounds in Ruislip the week before, when Mayo were going down to Derry.