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The All Ireland quarterfinal is where Mayo wanted to be when the season threw in and they have got back there, they have taken a somewhat more circuitous route than they would have hoped, but that goal has been achieved. Mayo's championship form has been patchy all year, no more so than last weekend when they mixed the good with the bad, but they still got the result if not the full performance, they wanted to get there.

It is game five of Mayo's 2016 championship campaign as we travel to Croke Park to take on Westmeath tomorrow afternoon. I know some are giving out about the choice of venue but I love going to Croke Park, you never get sick of the place and the fact there is a double header along with Donegal and Cork makes it all the more appealing.

Mayo put in their best 70 minutes of football under Stephen Rochford's watch to easily account for Kildare in their third round qualifier in sun drenched Elverys MacHale Park last Saturday. There is no question it had to have been the most relaxing 70 minutes Rochford has had since he took over the reins. The opposition has to be taken into account however. Kildare are no longer a force in football, they struggle to beat division four teams, they are probably the fifth best team in a Province that has only one decent team, but as the saying goes Mayo can only beat what is put in front of them.

Mayo are back within one game of the All Ireland quarter-final after a comprehensive win over Kildare in Elverys MacHale Park on Saturday night. Stephen Rochford’s men ran out nine point winners of the Lillywhites thanks in the most part to a late first half burst which saw them kick 2-2 in the closing seven minutes of the half.

Stephen Rochford has named his first championship starting team for Mayo this lunch time, Rochford has handed Ballina Stephenites attacker Evan Regan his championship debut in this game and has named nine of the side who started Mayo's All Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Dublin in the starting 15. The players coming into the side who didn't start that day are Brendan Harrision, Kevin Keane, Patrick Durcan, Jason Gibbons, Evan Regan and Conor O'Shea. Dropping to the bench from that clash are Seamus O'Shea, while Ger Cafferkey, Donal Vaughan, Chris Barrett, Barry Moran and Diarmuid O'Connor aren't part of the match-day 26. There had been doubts of the fittness of O'Connor, Barrett, Moran and Ger Cafferkey ahead of the game.

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford said this week that he is in no rush to fast-track through a large group of Michael Solan's All Ireland U21 winning side into the senior set up. Brian Reape has been brought in to the senior championship squad recently alongside four others, Diarmuid O'Connor, Stephen Coen, Michael Hall, and Conor Loftus, who have all been with the senior set up previously.

When a cool head was needed as things looked like they might be about to fall apart right at the end, the man who was making his 132 appearance for Mayo equalling James Nallen’s record number who steadied the ship and calmed the nerves with a brilliantly taken point. Andy Moran’s score three minutes into injury time pushed Mayo back into a two point lead after Donal O’Hare’s brilliantly taken goal had brought the Mourne county men right back into the game and had Mayo hearts racing and fingers checking twitter feeds to see how things were developing elsewhere.

A piece of individual brilliance by two minutes into the second half by Evan Regan kickstarted Mayo’s drive towards their second league win of the season. Regan was picked out by Tom Parsons in the right hand corner of the pitch, the Ballina sharpshooter looked to be in trouble on more than one occasion, but he managed to create enough space for himself to beat two men and fire the ball low past Geoffrey Claffey and put Mayo into a six point lead.

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford named his starting 15 for Sunday’s league showdown with Roscommon on Sunday afternoon on Friday night. The team named from one to 15 shows three changes from the side that started against Kerry a fortnight ago with Chris Barrett, Evan Regan and Conor Loftus coming into the side with Donal Vaughan, Kevin McLoughlin and Cathal Carolan making way.