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Live coverage from Celtic Park where Mayo take on Derry in the National Football League

A number of teams will be looking to have booked their spot in the last eight of the Mayo senior football championship this weekend when the curtain comes down on round two.

His imposing presence in the heart of the defence for his club Ballaghaderreen over the past number of years has seen David Drake earmarked as one of those who could add something to the Mayo set-up. The 24-year-old former Sligo IT and UCD Sigerson Cup player has been given that chance this year and he is looking to become the latest in a long line of men whose postal address may say Co Roscommon, but will bleed green and red on the football field rather than primrose and blue.

With just two league games under their belts for the 16 senior clubs in the county, the race for the Moclair Cup gets under way this weekend with eight games across the four groups in the Treanlaur Catering Mayo GAA senior football championship getting going to the whistle over Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Cillian O’Connor remains the one injury doubt for Mayo from those who were available for selection last weekend for Sunday’s Allianz National Football League semi-final in Croke Park. The Ballintubber attacker, who had to leave the action after just 10 minutes in Elverys MacHale Park last Sunday, may not make it back into the starting line-up for this weekend’s game. The team is due to be announced at some stage today (Friday, April 11).

It wasn’t convincing and James Horan wasn’t pleased after it but Mayo picked up their second win in a row last weekend in Mullingar to get a bit of momentum build behind the team. This Sunday in Elvery’s MacHale Park a far sterner test will be given to Mayo when an unbeaten Cork team arrive in Castlebar under new manager Brian Cuthbert. The Rebels boss whose side have so far beaten Dublin, Kildare, Derry and Westmeath in the league has made eight changes to the team that beat the Oak Leaf county last Sunday, with Eoghan Cadogan, Aidan Walsh, Donncha O’Connor and Colm O’Neill just some of the star names that Cuthbert has drafted in for the game.

Three things of note from Sunday's game

Mayo 2-17

Kildare 2-19

Fresh from seeing a game where his side engaged in a shootout more reminiscent of something you'd see in the latter stages of the hurling championship, than the first round of the football league on a chilly first Sunday in February, Mayo manager James Horan admitted he was still scratching his head when it came to the black card rule and how it's implement. The Ballintubber club man spelt out his unease saying. “I don't know, I'm still struggling with when it is and when it isn't. If I say that the Kildare one was a black card and ours wasn't you'd think I'm biased, but that's the way I actually saw it. Aido's one I wasn't sure if it was, I thought it was a yellow card.” Horan said he believed that the new rule was stopping players tackling because of the fear of picking up a black card. “Players out there are afraid to tackle at the moment, with the uncertainty that's there. If you want a game full of running, and tackling is one of the best skills in the game, that's where were going I would say. We just need to be careful and make sure that black cards are implement the right way and everyones clear on them and I don't think that's the case at the moment.”