Cillian O'Connor is hoping that Mayo can reproduce the character they showed in the second of last Sunday's drawn encounter against Kerry when the two sides renew acquaintances in the Gaelic Grounds this evening.

Lee Keegan's red card provided James Horan's charges will all the motivation they required according to the two time Young Footballer of the Year.

"We played a lot of good football in the second half and we will take a lot of positives from that and we showed great character," the Ballintubber ace said to the Examiner.

"A lot of our boys stood up; playing with 14 men for a lot of the game is not easy and we all had to take an extra bit of responsibility and I think we reacted well to Lee's sending off.

"We were not happy with the last 15 minutes of the first half. We were a bit flat for whatever reason and then the sending off was a bit surprising and maybe it threw us off a little bit.

"We sorted a few things, changed a few things tactically at half-time and we had to make a conscious decision to step-up to the plate for Lee's sake.

"We closed the five-point gap very quickly at the start of the second half and we kicked on but they are a good side, they have good players, they have match-winners in a lot of different positions.

"They were always going to have a good spell and I think we coped with them very well through most of the game but they got a few scores towards the end."

The decision to fix the replay for the Gaelic Grounds has generated plenty of debate but O'Donoghue insists the Connacht champions just want to get on with the game.

"It makes no odds to us. Croker suits our game when we move it quickly and hit the open spaces but it does not make any odds to us and neither will it to Kerry.

"We just want to play ball and try to impose our game on them, move it as quickly as we can up the field and play directly."

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