Injury-free Cork primed, but not underestimating Mayo
Callaghan said yesterday that the side were also mentally prepared perfectly for the game and were not complacent for their meeting with the Connacht qualifiers.
"There is reasonable expectations around the county, amongst the football fraternity, that Cork can win the All-Ireland title this year," Callaghan said.
"But we are taking it as one game at a time, it would be foolish in the extreme to under estimate Mayo," he said.
"They missed a late free to beat Galway in the Connacht Championship and if we were playing Galway, we would be second favourites.
"Tipperary proved just how good a football side they were last week against Mayo and we accept that they played beneath themselves against us in the Munster final replay.
"When all is said and done, there has been very little between Mayo and Cork in recent meetings.
"In fact, our last game against them was a challenge game in 2002, which Mayo won. We are taking no chances and are looking forward to being in Croke Park for the first time since it has been completely revamped."
Meanwhile, after initial panic in Mayo over garnering tickets for the big double-bill at headquarters on Monday, it now seems that anyone who wants to travel to Croke Park will be able to get tickets.
Mayo County Board secretary Sean Feeney confirmed last night that there were plenty of tickets available yesterday evening and they would still be available throughout the day.
"The pick-up on tickets has not being as frenzied as anticipated, but we expect most of our allocation to be taken up by Saturday afternoon," Feeney said.
Meanwhile, manager Pat Holmes has resisted the temptation to start Kieran McDonald by making just two changes to the starting team for the Bank Holiday encounter.
One change is enforced, as James Nallen replaces Alan Roche at centre back after Roche broke two bones in his foot in the clash with Tipperary last Saturday.
The other sees Gary Ruane return to the team in place of Pat Coyne after a week of intensive treatment on a leg injury.
Holmes has made changes to his chosen 15 prior to thrown against Tipperary and Limerick but Feeney does not think this will be the case on Monday.
"I think the manager has passed that stage of development and he is likely to start with the fifteen named. The team had their last workout last night and will travel to Dublin tomorrow," Feeney said.
This means the likes of McDonald, Conor Mortimer and Ray Connelly will have to settle for a place on the bench for Mayo's first Croke Park encounter since their League Final triumph over Galway in April last year.
Ticket fever has also gripped Donegal, as the county board have made last-ditch attempts to secure a further allocation of All-Ireland quarter-final tickets but Croke Park is in no position to offer more.
The Ulster county received 10,000 tickets for Monday's All-Ireland clash with Dublin and a Donegal official said they could have moved twice as many.
Ticket demands in the county rival that of 1992 when Donegal travelled to headquarters and defeated Dublin to lift the Sam Maguire.
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