Early season must win game for Mayo this weekend

IT may only be mid-February but Mayo are already in 'must win' territory as they welcome Tyrone to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park next Sunday afternoon in the National Football League.

From the outset this season, Kevin McStay and his team would have been targeting survival in a very tough looking Division One and after two losses in their opening games against Dublin and Galway, the pressure is now on to get some points on the board with a win against Tyrone.

Mayo are rooted to the bottom of the division after a heavy loss to old rivals Galway in their last game and with tough fixtures remaining, they simply have to get a win against Tyrone to have any chance of retaining their Division One status.

Tyrone themselves took a fair beating from All-Ireland champions Armagh in the last round but they opened their campaign with victory over Derry and they will be coming to Castlebar in search of a win to push themselves closer to safety.

Returning players

Mayo will be hoping to have the likes of Aidan O'Shea and Jordan Flynn returning to the fold to boost a squad that has been light in experience so far. Kevin McStay will also be hoping to soon have injured players like captain Paddy Durcan, Tommy Conroy and Jack Carney back for the later stages of the league, with some very tricky ties left for Mayo before they begin their championship campaign against Sligo in the first weekend in April.

Mayo face two trips up north in Round Four and Six when they travel to first Armagh and then Derry while their two home games after Sunday will be against Kerry and an in-form Donegal in the final round on Sunday, March 23.

READ: 'A tough one to take' - Mayo LGFA manager reacts to Tyrone defeat

Much of the focus after the heavy defeat to Galway was on Mayo's inability to take advantage of the new two point rule for scores kicked from distance outside the new arc.

Galway fired over seven two-pointers where Mayo only managed a single two-point effort so it will be interesting to see if Mayo can get some of their better long range shooters like Ryan O'Donoghue and Fergal Boland on the ball more often to capitalise on the new scoring system.

The new rules have certainly come under scrutiny for the first two rounds but they do seem to have succeeded in more attacking play being rewarded, as was witnessed in the very high scoring game between Kerry and Donegal last Saturday.

Jim McGuinness's men were victorious in Killarney, scoring 23 points in the process. Mayo thus far have scored 16 times in both their defeats so they will be looking to increase that tally in order to get the two points on offer against Tyrone.

Big home crowd

The game is live on TG4 but Mayo will be hoping for a big home crowd to get behind the team, with Tyrone likely to travel too in large numbers, with many of the northerners possibly taking the opportunity to spend Valentine's weekend in Mayo.

There is no doubt there is pressure on Mayo to put in a performance and get victory on Sunday. It is very early in the season to make sweeping predictions but a defeat on Sunday would leave Mayo staring down the barrel of relegation and in turn, would only increase the pressure on the squad ahead of a trip to All-Ireland champions Armagh.

A win though would get some much needed points on the board and with more players returning, would put a pep in Mayo's step entering the second half of the league campaign. It should be an entertaining afternoon of action in MacHale Park.