Mayo make one change for League final
Mayo manager Kevin McStay. Picture: INPHO/Evan Logan
Mayo senior football manager Kevin McStay and his management team have made one change to the team that will face Kerry in the Allianz National Football League Division One Final this Sunday at 4pm in Croke Park.
Davitt Neary comes back into the team, in place of Fenton Kelly. Hollymount-Carramore’s Stephen Coen will captain the side on the day.
Mayo and Kerry have met on 55 previous occasions in League action, with the Kingdom being the county Mayo have met most often in League fare. The first met in the League in 1928, when the Kingdom won a semi-final meeting between the counties on a 0-6 to 0-4 score-line, in a game that was played in Castlebar.
The Munster side hold an overall advantage, 27 wins to 24, with four games drawn. Four of those games have been League finals, with Kerry coming out on top in 1971, 1972 and 2022, and Mayo winning the final meeting in 2019.
Since the turn of the century, Mayo has had the upper hand in League meetings between the two counties. Of the 23 meetings between the counties since 2000, Mayo has 13 wins, to the Kingdom’s nine, with the 2012 meeting in Tralee finishing all square.
Eleven different venues have hosted League meetings between the counties. Tralee and Castlebar both with 16 have been the most popular, while there were eight meetings in Croke Park in the latter stages of the competition, including four final meetings. Other venues used have been Ballina (four), Killarney (three), Crossmolina (two), Salthill (two), and Thurles, Limerick, Listowel and Ennis with one meeting each.
Matthew Ruane will make his 70th League & Championship appearance for Mayo on Sunday, having made his debut v Tyrone in the Allianz League on February 3, 2019 in Omagh.
David Coldrick from Meath will officiate this game on Sunday.
Throw-in is at 4pm, and the game will be broadcast live on TG4. The final is also live on Midwest Radio, with commentary from Michael D McAndrew and Martin Carney. Tickets for the game can be purchased here.
