After last Sunday’s morale-boosting win over Galway in Round 1, Dublin roll into town today for our National League Division One Round 2 meeting. The match throws in at 1.30pm (not 1.45pm as the graphic above states – my mistake there) and Martin McNally of Monaghan is the ref. It’s not being shown live on TV or online but Midwest will have live radio commentary on it.

Over 11,500 were in Salthill last Sunday so, with it being a Bank Holiday weekend where there’s positivity back in the air, the weather looking okay (after what has felt like a year of rain up in the east this past week) and the match not on the box, you’d have to imagine this attractive fixture could pull in a few thousand more than that.

Mayo/Dublin clashes may have lost the lustre they once had but this is still a match to look forward to with a bit of anticipation. After disappointing seasons last year for both counties, Mayo and Dublin are seeking to push their way back into the reckoning in 2026 under new, youthful management.

We made the better start to the year last weekend, coming away from Pearse Stadium with the spoils. However, another five minutes in that game and the scoreline could have finished very differently for us. The fact that we managed to hold on to win has, to a large extent, airbrushed away the negative aspects of our second half display.

Dublin, much like Galway, struggled to get going against Donegal last weekend. Like the Tribesmen, however, they came right back into it after the break and were a tad unlucky to leave HQ empty-handed on Saturday night.

The Dubs have a very strong record against us in Castlebar so they’ll relish the chance today to get their first League points on the board this afternoon. We beat them at the death in the corresponding fixture two years ago but 2012 was the most recent time before then that we emerged winners from a clash between us at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

They had two points to spare over us at Croke Park in last year’s opening round meeting, when both sides were only starting to come to terms with the new rules.

In truth, we never made any kind of decent fist of using the revised rules to our advantage at all last year.

The same isn’t the case now and last Sunday showed that we’re far more willing to kick the ball in early and often, with our forward line given the licence to shoot at will. It makes a pleasant change from that pedestrian, lateral straitjacket approach the team were forced to adopt last year.

Last Sunday showed that a more open and, yes, chaotic approach suits us far better. It’s a style of play that’s good for the soul but we need to recognise that it’s one that’s also going to be tougher on the heart.

Letting winning positions slip has been a problem for us for a long time. Under the revised playing rules the chances of this happening to every team has increased greatly and the risks we face in this regard have clearly risen still further as well.

Playing in a more gung-ho fashion, where we leave more open road at the back, is a dangerous game. But life is there to be lived and, if we can get the balance right between a more adventurous approach to attack and a better ability to mind the shop, then we could see the bones of a style that might get us somewhere this year.

Over the coming weeks, though, we can expect to encounter bumps along this road. Dublin are experimenting too with their approach and with new players but they’ve still got enough talent in their ranks, a number of them laden down with Celtic crosses, to cause us serious bother. Dublin will always be tough opponents, as we well know.

Jack Coyne leads out the home team today, captaining the side for the first time in a competitive fixture so it’s a big day for the quietly-spoken Ballyhaunis player.

Paddy Durcan, meanwhile, starts a Mayo game in his home town for the first time since we last played Dublin at today’s venue two years ago. Today also see James Carr make his first Mayo start since the day we lost to Cork in the group stage of the Championship back in the summer of 2023.

It’s great to see Donnacha McHugh and Diarmuid O’Connor on the bench for today, two players who are undoubtedly set for big roles for us this year. The addition of Paul Towey and Dylan Thornton strengthens the bench still further.

As last Sunday showed, though, the use of replacements doesn’t always produce the desired effect in a game. Things went badly awry for us when we ran the bench in Salthill so how we ring the changes today, when the time comes to do this, will require careful thought.

Despite that late wobble, we all left Pearse Stadium last Sunday with a bounce in our step. While it’s far too early to claim that the good times are back, it’s still great to see a sense of optimism returning, both in the stands and online. Another win for us today would certainly add to that.

We’ll be out in force on the podcast later on, mindful that many of our club members, in particular those living away, may not be able to make it to Castlebar for the game. We’re aiming to put together a more out-sized Final Whistle show for this one and we’ll also be more active on Discord during the game, where we plan to experiment with a few in-game audio updates.

Here’s hoping all that chat and post-match analysis will be of the positive variety, following a second winning outing for Andy Moran’s new model Mayo. That’s the plan at any rate. Up Mayo.