Louth captain Sam Mulroy is expecting a big challenge this weekend as his side travel north to Ballybofey for their preliminary quarter-final encounter against Donegal.

The wee county have had mixed fortunes in recent outings since their Leinster Final exploits against Meath just short of six weeks ago.

Ger Brennan’s side lost to Monaghan and Down in the opening two rounds of their All-Ireland Championship group but managed to save their season on the final day with a three-point victory over Clare to secure a preliminary quarter-final courtesy of a third place finish.

Speaking at the All-Ireland Championship launch in the lead up to this weekend’s showdown against Donegal, Mulroy was forthright about the huge task that his side have on their hands coming to Donegal’s own backyard on Sunday.

“It’s a massive test coming this weekend against Donegal but we’ll be going all guns blazing and hopefully we can pull out a result.”

Mulroy, Louth’s top scorer this to date with 1-24 to his name, labelled Jim McGuinness’s men as one of the frontrunners to go all the way this year and lift the Sam Maguire.

However, he insists that his side have a point to prove when the Leinster champions travel to MacCumhaill Park to face the Ulster Champions this Sunday.

“Obviously, Donegal are tipped to win the whole thing so it’s going to be a tough test for us but as I said there’s loads in this group and we have a point to prove at the weekend. We haven’t gotten to the heights that we’d have liked yet so we’ll be giving it a good crack.”