Paul McConway insists there is no bitterness between Offaly and Longford as they prepare for their latest joust in Saturday's Leinster SFC opener at Tullamore.

It will be the fifth meeting of the midland rivals in just over a year, with Longford having won three of the previous encounters and Offaly having turned the tables in emphatic fashion in last month's Allianz League Division 4 final.

When the teams met in the regulation stage of this year's Allianz League at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, the visitors had three players sent off, but Faithful captain McConway is adamant that there is no bad blood between them.

"Certainly not from us and I don't think it will be from them either," he told the Tullamore Tribune.

"This game is all about winning, do whatever you have to do to get over the line. I don't think that will come into it too much. Okay, we have played more often than most teams play, this is the third time this year but all those games have been played on their own merits.

"There have been different things riding on each game. Up in Longford, it was more or less to see who got promoted first. Longford won that battle. The next game was a standout fixture on its own, a league final, it was for silverware. We happened to win that game.

"Now we are talking about a championship game which just happens to be Offaly and Longford. I am not sure there is much emphasis on that. We certainly won't be focussing on that,' the Tullamore man added.

Tweet

Most Read Stories