Noel O'Leary is looking forward to Cork's latest battle with Mayo.

The sides are due to face-off in Sunday's Division One decider at Croke Park, with last year's All-Ireland quarter-final and this year's (and last year's) league clash(es) in Castlebar still fresh in O'Leary's mind.

Referring to the 2011 SFC game, the no-nonsense half back tells The Examiner:

"It wasn't the case that we were lackadaisical, as they had beaten us above in Castlebar, so we knew we'd be in for a fair battle. It was a bit different compared to other years but that bite just didn't seem to there as much.

"Cork were doing okay coming up to half time, but to be fair Mayo really stepped it up in the second half and we just didn't have it in us to keep up with them. Maybe the hunger's an excuse but you can't deny that Mayo were the better team.

"There's no doubt that the Mayo game this year was a good win for us. The introduction of a few lads made a difference, Paul Kerrigan was the big difference really. The bit of experience told as well, lads didn't really lose the head and certainly it was a good win for us above there.

"It's never easy beating Mayo in Castlebar, the week or two after against Dublin told that. But we'd be only reasonably happy with our performances to date. We can't say we're really happy with how things are going but at the same time we're in a league final, and that's what counts." Tweet

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