Barry Gilleran says Longford were always confident they could defeat Offaly.

Having been beaten by the same opposition in the Division Four league final, Jack Sheedy's charges recorded an impressive victory over the Faithful County at Tullamore on Saturday night to book a Leinster SFC quarter-final tilt at Dublin in Croke Park.

"We had the belief from the start of the game and knew we could beat Offaly," the Slashers clubman states in The Longford Leader. "Maybe other people thought we couldn't do it, but people can talk - we know what we are capable of. We did it again against the odds.

"It was a great turnaround. We kept plugging away. At half time, we went in after missing a penalty but we knew we had the aid of the strong wind. Wind doesn't win a game but we needed to go out and tackle hard for every ball.

"Offaly got a good start to the second half but we never gave up and our points came. They faded away as we kept putting the pressure on and came out with the victory.

"It's a great opportunity to play against Dublin in Croke Park and that's where you want to be as a gaelic footballer. You want to play against the top players and we have to go out and give it our best."

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