Mayo vs Dublin is almost always a game that sets the pulses racing, but this weekend's clash between the counties in the league is not one of those times on the face of it.
Mayo will have to field a side without their entire fullback line as Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins, Chris Barrett won't be available. Lee Keegan, Tom Parsons, and Seamus O'Shea are also set to miss out, as are Cillian O'Connor, Paddy Durcan, and Donnie Vaughan.
Despite being forced to field a massively depleted side, the bookies only have Dublin as four point favourites. To discuss the game, and all the week's talking points, former Mayo footballer Billy Joe Padden joined Nathan over Skype to talk through the game and how he sees the game panning out.
"The strength of this Mayo team has been that halfback line, and how they've been able to drive out of that area, and when you take Tom Parsons, Seamie O'Shea, all those halfbacks out of it Mayo just do not have the same pace and power".
Padden sees the game being far from a free-flowing football exhibition, and has tipped Mayo to set up quite defensively in a bid to stifle Dublin's attack.
"The year before last Mayo had a very poor performance against Cork in the first round of the league, then went up to McHale Park in bad conditions in soft ground, it was a real grind against Dublin and they only lost by a point".
"I think maybe that'll be the template for Stephen Rochford going into this game. To keep it very tight at the back. They haven't been scoring well upfront anyway, so that's not going to dramatically turn around in one game. So Mayo, to keep this game competitive and have a chance of winning, have to keep the score down".
"I think you'll see loads of men behind the ball, Mayo will hopefully try to counter attack, and do a bit better defensively and try to do a bit better around the midfield".
While there remains the possibility of the squad players and youth stepping up to fill the void, Padden isn't confident of their ability to test Dublin if the All-Ireland champions perform at their highest level.
"It's so much easier to perform if you're coming into a team with 13 established players and there's maybe two young guys in there, but the way it's happening half the team is inexperienced, they're not used to playing together, they haven't a lot of football under their belt this year, and to be honest they just haven't been good enough".
For the full interview you can see the video at the top of the page, or catch it in podcast format right here.
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