Injury worries for Mayo

Mayo manager John O'Mahony has some notable injury worries ahead of his side's National Football League trip to Cork on Saturday.

The Mayo panel will be stretched to its limit this weekend with the 350-mile round trip to face the Rebels at Pairc Ui Rinn on Saturday (throw-in 7.30pm), and then a full raft of Mayo League games on Sunday afternoon.

With that gruelling schedule in mind, O'Mahony has taken the wise decision to cancel Thursday night's training session so his players can rest up.

He is planning without injured midfielder David Brady (calf) for this weekend's Division 1A clash, while Ronan McGarrity will be absent for the foreseeable future due to his cancer treatment.

Veteran forward Kevin O'Neill, who is Mayo's captain this year, is in a race against time to recover from a hamstring injury, but goalkeeper David Clarke, who has bounced back from a back strain, could step in to replace Kenneth O'Malley.

Centre forward Trevor Mortimer is nursing a foot injury he sustained in a trial match last Saturday and is rated doubtful. Mortimer and his brother Conor contributed eight points between them in Mayo's 0-12 to 1-7 defeat of Fermanagh last time out.

Meanwhile, former skipper Ciaran McDonald has returned to light training with the Mayo panel. He played for 15 minutes in last weekend's trial match - the 2004 All-Star forward has been sidelined since the end of last season due to a troublesome back injury.