Dublin and Mayo went through the motions at Parnell Park on Saturday evening but revealed few clues for the championship as Mayo ran out 1-18 to 0-14 winners. Both sides took their time in getting into the game and they weren't helped by the kick-off being delayed for 15 minutes when the designated referee failed to appear. Dublin held a slight advantage thanks to the opening points of Brian Stynes, but after that it was only Mayo who impressed.

Pat Fallon at midfield created plenty of scoring chances for James Horan, Maurice Sheridan and Kevin O'Neill upfront and on most occasions they were happy to oblige.

Dublin manager Tommy Carr made four changes in the second half in an attempt to put together a reasonable attacking strategy but Mayo became increasingly more effective with Liam McHale taking more of an interest in the game. Ten minutes from time, McHale was involved in the only goal when he found O'Neill in clear space who finished the ball to the net.

Clare turned a ten points deficit into a one-point winning margin, 214 to 1-16,over Meath in the Noel Keating Cup tournament game which marked the official opening of the Bective grounds near Navan yesterday.

With Trevor Giles scoring 1-5, Meath built up a 1-10 to 0-6 interval lead and were 1-14 to 0-7 to the good 13 minutes into the second half. Meath seemed to lose their way when Tommy Dowd was taken off and goals from Peadar McMahon (penalty) and Brian Considine brought Clare right back into contention and Michael Liddane sent over the winning point in injury time.

Cavan continued their preparations for the defence of the Ulster SFC title when they defeated Louth by 1-13 to 1-8 in a tournament game at Kingscourt last night. This was a good workout for both teams and in particular for Cavan who led by 1-5 to 0-7 at half-time.