None of the Longford players who will line out against Louth on Sunday have ever played in Croke Park. "Not at any level," confirms Pauric Davis. "I think a couple of the lads might have been there for minor hurling at one point, but certainly not football."

Since the Manning Gaels forward made his championship debut in 1996, he has observed and contributed to a significant improvement in the team's overall game but reward has been painfully slow. This year's smooth league run ended with a painful loss to Kildare in the final match, which saw them squeezed out of the Division Two semi-finals.

"That match was indicative of our problems in that we got ourselves into a hole early on and it was all but impossible to fight our way back out. I think they had hit us for 14 points at half-time to our 1-3."

But Longford finished that match with a total of 2-12, a score-line many teams would find enviable given Kildare's notoriously tight defence. And it wasn't a freak; Longford have, for the past few seasons, been adept at putting scores up. Enda and Paul Barden, Davis himself and attacking half-back Trevor Smullen are among the stronger distance kickers in the game.

"Our problems have been at the other end, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in the forwards. To score 2-12 against a side and still lose is simply ludicrous. Our old failing is that we concede scores too easily. You need a unit of six or seven defenders who can close down the top forwards in the country or else you are going to get stuck in the same place.

"Our inability to do that has cost us in the past and we allow teams to get back into games. We are particularly guilty of giving away goals. And goals cost you games, the lads know that and it is something we need to redress."

It could be argued Longford have been victims of their expansive game. They are an open team who play swift, attacking football. Perhaps a more negative, defensively stacked formation would pay more dividends.

"That is fine in theory and suits teams like Meath who can bank on being three or four points up on most teams in critical periods of the match," points out Davis. "We frequently have to go out and chase to win games, come from behind and that leaves us prone to vulnerability at the back."

With Louth having been in limbo for the past two months due to the foot-and-mouth restrictions, Davies admits he is uncertain of what faces Longford in Navan.

Although the scope of possibilities for Longford is realistically confined to Leinster, Davis is not pessimistic about the state of the game in the county. Still only 25, he couldn't imagine his life without football. However, he is anxious some of the more senior members of the panel - Enda Barden and Colin Hannify, regulars since 1993 - get to experience a summer outing in Croke Park. The winners of Sunday's clash will meet Dublin.

"What better team to face? We'd settle for that all right. These are the kind of teams we need to be facing and regularly. From that perspective, it is disappointing we didn't achieve our ambition of gaining Division One status for next year.

"We slipped up. Some people said afterwards that it was the loss against Down that cost us but ultimately, it was the way we began against Kildare. And we will be conscious of that the next day, aware we will have to be firing from the first whistle."