MAYO HOPING TO FIND HYDE SPARK AGAINST DONEGAL

WITH the way their 2001 Championship campaign wound up, Mayo would have been happy to steer well clear of Dr Hyde Park for some time to come.

- BY PAT NOLAN

The reigning League champions were leading Roscommon by two points in the Connacht final with time almost up when they were suckerpunched by a Gerry Lohan goal.

In the first year of the qualifier system, they were back there three weeks later for a round four tie against an emerging Westmeath team.

The sides were level after 70 minutes but Mayo pushed two points clear by half-time in extra-time only to fail to score again as Damien Gavin famously punched the winning point for Luke Dempsey's side.

But what a venue the now grandly titled King and Moffatt Dr Hyde Park has been for Mayo since.

In the intervening 24 years they have played 14 League and Championship games at the ground and not lost one of them, as they return for Sunday's pivotal meeting with Donegal.

Indeed, the only time they failed to register a victory was on their last visit, a draw with Dublin in the final round of group games in last year's Championship as Cormac Costello equalised at the death, though they had already beaten Roscommon twice there earlier in the campaign.