Kavanagh chases midlands derby win

St Patrick's Drumcondra student Brian Kavanagh expects big things from his Longford side this year but he knows tomorrow's midlands derby against old rivals Westmeath is going to be a tough hurdle to overcome.

Despite that age-old rivalry, it is hard to believe that the counties are meeting tomorrow in the Leinster championship for the first time since 1999, when Westmeath had a comfortable 3-17 to 2-9 win.

Kavanagh is certain of a different type of result tomorrow, especially with the progression of the Longford Under-21 side in recent seasons.

"We had a great run to the Leinster U-21 final last year beating Offaly, Carlow and Kildare, who were reigning Leinster champions at the time. Unfortunately in the final we just came up against a quality Laois team, much of the same team that lost last Saturday's All-Ireland U-21 final," Kavanagh said.

"Nine of that Under-21 team played against Kerry in the fourth round qualifier in Killarney last year. It was a huge boost in confidence for us young players to help us cope with large crowds and it gives us a great platform to take into the championship."

Despite no major silverware to report since their last Leinster SFC triumph in 1964, Kavanagh does not feel that Longford football is in a crisis at present.

"I wouldn't see Longford as being in a football crisis at all at the moment. In the last four years at Under-21 level we reached two Leinster finals and two semi-finals and our minors are progressing well at the moment also."

The involvement of former Westmeath underage and senior football manager Luke Dempsey in the present Longford set-up is a huge asset for Kavanagh and his team-mates and the Ardagh clubman certainly sings Dempsey's praises.

"Luke Dempsey is a great man manager and he makes sure that every player on the team is singing from the same hymn sheet. He brought a winning mentality into the group following his All-Ireland minor and Under-21 wins with Westmeath and we progressed leaps and bounds last year and hopefully we can carry that through to this year's championship."

Throw-in in for tomorrow's Longford-Westmeath clash, which is the first match of the 2007 Bank of Ireland senior football championship, is at 2pm at Pearse Park.