But the former captain readily admits that his side will have to produce their best football in order to hold onto the Nestor Cup.

"We're going to have to reach a level that this team haven't reached before. It's about the whole team," he told the Roscommon Herald.

"Winning this Connacht title would be unbelievable for us whereas it would be a stepping stone for Mayo. They're still one of the top five or six teams in the country."

Mayo struggled to get past London in their Championship opener back in May and also put in a poor first half display against Galway last time out.

However, their efforts in outscoring Galway by 1-8 to 0-1 in the second half of the semi-final were acknowledged by the Rossies' supremo.

"There wasn't much optimism in Mayo before the Galway game on the basis of their performance in London. But you can see the confidence returning since they beat Galway.

"We've just been promoted from Division 4 (of the Allianz League). Mayo are a Division 1 team and can beat anyone on their day. I was impressed with their second half performance against Galway."

The defending champions' corner back Stephen Ormsby (hamstring) is their only injury concern ahead of a game that gives them the chance to end a run of four Championship defeats to Mayo.

There is plenty of motivation for them to do so. Winning the provincial title in front of their home fans would be extra special - but O'Donnell insists that his players will have to give the Hyde faithful something to shout about.

"I suppose we haven't turned Hyde Park into the fortress that we would have liked during our time in charge.

"Some of our most disappointing performances have come in the Hyde, like Cavan in the league last year. But Hyde Park on Sunday, July 17 is where we want to be.

"It's where every young Roscommon player aspires to play. The crowd will only come into it if we're in the game and give them a reason to become involved."

Meanwhile, influential midfielder Karol Mannion is hoping it is a case of third time lucky for him after two final defeats already this year.

He was part of the St. Brigid's team that lost the All-Ireland Club SFC final to Crossmaglen in March. A month later Croke Park was the venue again as Roscommon were beaten by Longford in the Division 4 final.

Mayo may well be favourites to take the Connacht crown this weekend, but Mannion is confident that Roscommon have what it takes to overcome them.

"Last year no one expected us to win the final and there was always going to more interest this year with the match at Hyde Park," said the 31-year-old.

"Last year we went in well prepared and confident that we'd give a performance. This year we want to be competitive with Mayo. The last time we played Mayo they handed us a fair beating (3-18 to 0-7 in the 2009 Connacht semi-final).

"We want to be there or thereabouts going into the last ten minutes. Mayo's midfield is very strong, they have established inter-county players at midfield.

"Ronan McGarrity could be involved and he has been Mayo's marquee midfielder for the last eight or nine years. Aidan O'Shea can play centre-forward or full-forward, so I won't be surprised if all three start.

"In the modern era most teams can adopt a defensive mentality and if Mayo play a blanket defence, all of our players are experienced enough and intelligent enough to respond to it. We know what needs to be done."