Down goalkeeper Stephen Keith is confident that they can bounce back from their opening round defeat in the Christy Ring Cup when they take on Derry this Saturday.

London handed the Mourne men side a five-point defeat in Ballycran last time out and Keith has given a rallying call to his team mates ahead of the weekend's Ulster derby in Owenbeg, where the losers will have to battle it out in a relegation play-off for survival in hurling's second tier.

"We want to win on Saturday. It is now time for the players to stand up and be counted," Keith told the Gaelic Life newspaper.

"It is easy to say that you didn't perform on the day, but we don't want to do that.

"We spoke after last weekend's game (the loss to London), and we weren't happy with our performance. We need to improve, and we need to be organised. Hopefully we get the response this weekend."

On the prospect of being forced into a relegation play-off, Keith added: "It would be a massive blow for us. There are a lot of young hurlers coming through, but if we are playing Nicky Rackard there wouldn't be much incentive for them."

Throw-in for Saturday's game at Owenbeg is at 2pm.

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