Mayo manager James Horan is confident his charges are ready for the challenge of facing Dublin at Croke Park in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final on Sunday.
Mayo have had mixed results at HQ in the past but Horan insists this current team are looking forward to the challenge on Sunday.
Horan said: "We like playing in Croker. We've done pretty well there. We've a good record there, some of our best performances have been there, so when you play a team like Dublin, in front of a full house, that's absolutely where you want to be.
"We feel we have the game and the players. We're prepared well and we can't wait to get cracking at it. It'll be pretty close to a full house and that's where you want to play. We're really looking forward to it. We can't wait."
He continued: "I'd be very confident that we've improved from last year. Defensively we're stronger and smarter, and we've got a lot more strings to our bow than we had last year.
"But it's all based on the same principles.
"The principles are the same as every successful team in the world; tackle high, high work-rate, pressure, tempo, good skill execution and decision-making.
"There's no secret to that, and we're happy that we're further along the road than we were last year."
When asked if Mayo would have to be perfect against a fancied Dublin side, Horan replied: "Absolutely, we'll have to play at the top of our range. But that's what we're always trying to do."
“We’re confident with how we’ve prepared so far, we’ve still a lot of preparation to do. But we’ll be looking to execute a performance like we know we can give.”
