Lee Keegan Thinks His County Will Pay The Price For "Perennial Mayo Problem"

Mayo have once again backed themselves into a corner and face a do-or-die clash with Donegal this weekend to preserve their hopes of All-Ireland glory.

The Westerners were left disappointed in Connacht after losing the provincial decider to Galway, but would have expected to start the Sam Maguire round-robin phase with a victory over Cavan.

Even with home advantage, they were left stunned by the underdogs in Castlebar on opening weekend, with Cavan claiming their first championship win over Mayo in 77 years.

Mayo had immediately given themselves a mountain to climb and though they responded in style with a win on the road in Omagh, they now know they must avoid defeat against Donegal to guarantee their progression to the knockout phase.

Should they lose to Donegal, an anxious wait for the result between Cavan and Tyrone will decide their fate.

It is a tense situation, the nature of which will be all too familiar to Mayo fans.

For Lee Keegan, one of the county's greatest ever, it has been caused by an avoidable "perennial Mayo problem."

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For Lee Keegan, a win against a misfiring Tyrone in Omagh did not undo the damage Mayo caused themselves in the round-robin opener against Cavan.

The 2016 Footballer of the Year said in his RTÉ column this week that Mayo had once again been caught out by "failing to respect" teams they should expect to beat.

The size of Donegal's win in Kingspan Breffni underlined again - if we needed reminding - how awful Mayo were in the first group game.

It was a perennial Mayo problem. Deep down, failing to respect the teams we should beat. It could well prove costly.

The most frustrating aspect for Keegan was how different Mayo looked when they travelled to face Tyrone a fortnight later.

"We saw how transformed they were with a completely different attitude in Omagh, where we devoured them at midfield and on breaking ball," Keegan said.

Mayo know that they cannot allow any more mistakes when they face Jim McGuinness' Donegal in Roscommon this weekend.

Ultimately, though, that opening defeat to Cavan will prove costly, says Lee Keegan.

Looking at it dispassionately, it's hard to conclude that Donegal aren't three to four points the better team currently. Though Mayo being Mayo, I expect them to go down swinging.

Mayo face Donegal in Dr Hyde Park this Sunday in the final game of their All-Ireland football group. Throw-in is at 4pm and the game is live on RTÉ 2.