Longford host Lancashire in Division 3B of the Allianz National Hurling League this Saturday in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park with the game getting underway at 2pm.
Both sides come into this crucial league meeting with a win and a loss from their opening two matches.
Longford bounced back from their two-point home defeat to Cavan to win away against Warwickshire by seven points.
Lancashire lost to Leitrim by five points before beating an understrength Cavan side by six points in Abbotstown.
The English side have scored three goals in each of their opening two matches and will be looking to the likes of Conor Kennedy, Eamon Kearns, and Connor Madden to propel them towards another victory.
Longford will be missing midfielder John Mulhern who sustained a broken finger in the win over Warwickshire.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s crucial encounter, the Longford manager, Adrian Moran acknowledged the importance of the win in Birmingham.
‘We had a very poor day in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park against Cavan in our first fixture. It was an uncharacteristic display with too many errors, but the lads bounced back brilliantly to beat Warwickshire.
I was missing that day due to surgery, but Eoin Donnellan stepped into the breach and was exceptional as stand-in manager on the day. It was a comfortable victory against a Warwickshire side that failed to score from play. We were actually up by ten points well into the second-half before they staged a mini-revival late on, but we were always in control.’
It was bittersweet start to the game for Longford with the joy of Ronan Sheahan’s early goal being negated by the injury to John Mulhern, and Adrian agreed that his loss is a huge blow to the county team
‘John is an immensely talented hurler who had his injury issues during the championship last year, and now he will miss the rest of the League with a broken finger that was operated on earlier this week. It’s a big blow to us, but young Dan Crossan came on as an early substitute and was outstanding for us, and he capped his excellent display with that second-half goal, so he stepped up to the mark in impressive style.’
Looking ahead to Saturday’s match, Adrian knows that the Red Rose County will pose a difficult Challenge.
‘They have an exceptional half-forward line and midfielders who are capable of adding plenty of scores. They have racked up 6-27 in their two matches so far, so we will have to be at peak performance to earn a victory.’