No olive branch in sight as western rivals go into battle again

On Damien Comer’s last visit to MacHale Park, referee Paddy Neilan sent him for an early shower.

It was the second Friday of January, neither Galway nor Mayo wholly enamoured to find themselves wrestling in the mud in Castlebar. Their FBD meeting was supposed to have been played the Sunday previous, but a frozen pitch meant the game was postponed three minutes after it was scheduled to throw-in.

The refixture probably should have bit the bullet, as well, such was the downfall of rain and patches of surface water on the turf. The powers-that-be, though, had a competition to finish and so another postponement simply wouldn’t do.