It was announced on Monday that Staunton, 36, had signed a new deal with the Greater Western Sydney Giants that will see her return to play a second season with the Aussie Rules outfit.

The four-time All-Ireland winner will be linking up with the Sydney-based club in November. It has now also emerged that Staunton has recently returned to training with Peter Leahy’s Mayo senior panel, and was among the squad when they held a recent training camp on Clare Island.

The Carnacon star returned to Ireland from Australia in April after her maiden season in Sydney ended.

Staunton’s return is a huge boost to Mayo hopes of beating defending champions Galway in the upcoming Connacht SFC Final on Sunday, June 24.

Speaking after her return to Ireland last month, the 10-time All Star winner admitted that she was mulling over the decision of whether to commit to Mayo for another summer.

I have aspirations to go back to Australia again so I have to decide if going back to play county football again is the best thing for me and my body,” explained Staunton.

“I got on a plane to Australia the day after we won an All-Ireland club title last year so I’ve been playing and training constantly now for almost a year.”

Staunton made her senior championship debut for Mayo in 1996 when she was 14.

She has scored 59-483 for Mayo during her remarkable championship career, playing 67 matches in the competition.

Incredibly, she has never missed a championship game for Mayo since making her debut 22 years ago.