McStay selects team for clash with Dublin

MAYO manager Kevin McStay has selected his team to play Dublin in the opening round of the National League on Saturday evening in Croke Park and a young Breaffy forward will make his Vroke Park bow.

Knockmore's goalkeeper Colm Reape will have a full-back line of Sam Callinan, Rory Brickenden and Enda Hession in front of him. The half-back line will be made up of Stephen Coen, David McBrien and Donnacha McHugh. In the middle of the field Ballintubber's Diarmuid O'Connor will partner Breaffy's Matthew Ruane while Conor Reid, Bob Tuohy and debutant Davitt Neary from Breaffy will make up the half-forward line.

The trio in the full-forward line will be Fergal Boland, Frank Irwin and Ryan O'Donoghue.

The match against Dublin throws in at 7.30pm and the home side will field a new-look squad for the encounter after manager Dessie Farrell drafted in a raft of new players for the campaign.

Sixteen players have been drafted into the set-up following the creation of a development squad after an extensive trial period, and Farrell is hoping that the injection of youth will bring a new dynamic to the squad, while former player Davy Byrne and hurler Eoghan O’Donnell have also been included.

"Things have been going well and there is a lot going on trying to get a new panel formulated," said Farrell. "It’s been an enjoyable couple of weeks and we’re looking forward to the season ahead.

"We have gone through a fairly extensive trialing process for club players over the last couple of months and we have a development squad to allow players additional time for further assessment, and then we made some decisions about who we would bring into this year’s panel.

"We have 16 new players in total, so it’s an interesting time for them, a great opportunity, but it’s great to see new faces and plenty of new energy as well."