With two qualifier wins already under their belt, Longford will travel to Mullingar quietly confident of pulling off an upset against a Kildare team which appears low on confidence at the moment.

Following their 19-point hammering at the hands of Dublin, the Lilywhites stuttered to an unconvincing victory over Offaly seven days ago but Jason Ryan and his backroom team will be hoping that they improve as a result of that outing.

A personal contribution of 1-7 from the experienced Eoghan O'Flaherty helped them to a hard-earned 1-15 to 1-13 win over the Faithful County.

The Carbury player's attacking team-mates will be expected to shoulder more of the scoring responsibility this evening.

The game is being placed in Cusack Park because of Health & Safety concerns surrounding Glennon Bros Pearse Park but the loss of home advantage doesn't bother Jack Sheedy who has overseen back-door victories against Carlow and Clare.

"It is essentially a home game for us all the same so there is no issues for us whatsoever," he remarked.

"You have got to go out and perform - all that sort of thing is only peripheral stuff attached to the game. It is not going to affect how we play."

Verdict - Kildare.

Longford team: Paddy Collum; Dermot Brady, Barry O'Farrell, Fergal Battrim; Colm P. Smyth, Barry Gilleran, Diarmuid Masterson; Kevin Diffley, Michael Quinn; Padraig Gill, Ronan McEntire, Rory Connor; Liam Connerton, Brian Kavanagh, Dessie Reynolds.

Kildare team: tbc.

Match details: Saturday; Cusack Park, Mullingar; 7pm; extra-time playable.

Referee: Derek O'Mahoney.

Odds: Longford 11/4; Draw 15/2; Kildare 2/5.

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