Jason Doherty says he’s keen to hang on to free-taking duties as Cillian O’Connor nears a Mayo return.
Doherty deputised as the county’s place-kicker due to the fact that O’Connor, the county’s scorer-in-chief since making his debut in 2011, sat out the League after knee surgery.
However, he’s expected to return to action shortly with the Connacht Championship opener against New York looming on May 5.
When asked if he’d like to retain the role into the summer, Doherty replied: “Ah, 100%. I love that pressure of taking the frees, it puts you out of your comfort zone, you're challenged every game mentally and physically to respond to it.
“I think overall the percentage wasn't too bad so I'll keep working on it.”
Over the course of the League, Doherty hit 0-27 from eight starts, with 0-20 of that tally coming from frees.
O’Connor became Mayo’s all-time top scorer with a 3-9 haul against Limerick in last year’s qualifiers and would be expected to resume free-taking duties once fully fit.
Doherty says that’s a conversation he’ll have with his teammate in due course, though laughed that his scuffed effort in the first half of Sunday’s League final win over Kerry won’t have helped his cause.
He said: “After missing that one in the first half he'll be licking his lips! We haven't discussed that to be honest. He'll be back hopefully in the next few weeks with maybe the club and even back training with us.
Owen Mulligan says Dublin need Diarmuid Connolly back but doubts Jim Gavin will call him back
“We'll see once we get back in the thick of training before New York.
“We'll have to have a chat over coffee and see who is going to take them! We'll have to see who is playing first of all.”
Meanwhile, Doherty backed the decision of Cork delegates on Tuesday night not to proceed with a championship structure that would see clubs play two rounds of games without their county players.
The Burrishoole man added: “Personally I think all county players should play the club championship games and personally I think most county players would want to play club championship games.
“Club is where it all starts, it means a huge amount of lads. Obviously I'm buzzing to go back this weekend and play a league game with the club.
“But yeah, definitely I wouldn't like to be sitting on the sideline for any club championship game.”
Don’t miss this weekend’s GAA action – sign up to Sky Sports and get 6 months half price here , or try a NOW TV Sports Month Pass here , now just €20 a month – usually €50
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
