Longford star forward Brian Kavanagh says his team will need to be wary of Leitrim when the two sides clash in the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers this Saturday in Carrick-on-Shannon. The Kilmacud Crokes clubman has stressed that Longford have a major point to prove after their Leinster championship defeat to Wicklow, nit to mention a poor National League campaign which saw them demoted to Division Four. "Everybody has an awful lot to prove," Kavanagh told the Longford Leader newspaper this week. "We have done very little to nothing this year; being relegated and losing to Wicklow. We have to work very hard to get the pride back into the jersey." Kavanagh is well aware of the stiff task that awaits Longford, given their past results in the championship at Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada. "They are extremely hard to beat in Carrick-on-Shannon and in the qualifiers they've nearly pulled off shocks there," he said "It will be a tough game. They have a lot of very good footballers. They've a good full-back line and are strong around the middle. They are a force to be reckoned with." However, the sharpshooter is confident that if he and his team mates can put in a sterling performance against the home side on Saturday that they can advance towards the next round of the qualifiers. "I know how good this Longford team can be. A lot of people do realise it especially outside the county. When you are living in Dublin and they see the performances that we put in especially in the O'Byrne Cup final against Dublin last year. Hopefully we can produce a performance like that on Saturday against Leitrim," added Kavanagh. Tweet

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