For Castlebar Celtic boss Stevie Gavin, seeing his side welcoming a League of Ireland side in the FAI Cup to Mayo is an opportunity he’ll be relishing.

His soldiers have already broken new ground in the first round of the competition, dispatching North End United to ensure that their name was being picked out of the pot by Robbie Brady.

READ MORE: Mayo soccer club face League of Ireland side in FAI Cup Draw

Now, with Longford Town making their way to Mayo’s county town to go toe-to-toe with the region’s best team, Gavin and his management will be licking their lips at downing the First Divisioners.

“It's a reward for the team, the lads, all the hard work that we put in the last couple of years and the club,” he stated. It'll be a good occasion, we're looking forward to it.

“It’ll be good for the town, and it’ll be good for football in Mayo.”

The North End United win last time out in Wexford was a momentous occasion for the club, but Gavin’s hoops will be under no illusion of the challenge Gary Cronin’s men will pose.

“In the first round, we went down to Wexford and we beat a team on our own level,” said Gavin. “But listen, they're a league team, so the reality is that they should be levels above us. We're getting a chance to test ourselves, so it'll be good.”

Gavin is someone who knows the particular region of the Midlands well. His wife hails from Longford, and that’s not to mention the fact that the ex-Galway United and Sligo Rovers man started his career at Strokestown Road.

“It's a long time now since I was there,” he surmised. “You're going back, it's a good few years, but I spent nearly four years there.”

Cauldron Celtic Park

The current Celtic boss spent four years at ‘De Town’, but there will be no question of divided loyalties as he issued a rallying call to the people of Mayo’s county town to make Celtic Park a cauldron for the fixture, scheduled for the weekend of July 18-20.

“In terms of top-level football in the country, it's in Celtic Park, it's on people's doorstep, they should get out and watch it,” Gavin said.

“Our attendances have grown in the last few years, and it's definitely something people should be making an effort to come out and watch League of Ireland proper in the West of Ireland.”

Most of the players in the Castlebar Celtic ranks have given their all to the green and white. Some would even say they’ve nothing left to prove at this level, having obliterated all before them.

For them, they’ll be chomping at the bit to get a crack at some of the big guns, per Gavin.

“I have no doubt there's guys in our team who are good enough to play in the League of Ireland,” he asserted. “The likes of Owen Groarke, Mark Cunningham, Owen Hughes. 

“Jordan Loftus played at that level, we have Dylan Edwards who played up North on the professional level. Brian Walsh is an excellent player, I think he could play at that level as well, and Stefan Hester. Excellent goalkeeper, I think there's levels in him as well.

“It's a chance for all these guys to test themselves.”

READ MORE: Round-up - Crucial victories in the Mayo Super League

The manager of the reigning Super League champions was quick to shower praise on his old club.

“We've great respect for any player,” he surmised. “These guys are on contracts and they're on money, and some of them good money. So they are levels, and the reality is they are a couple of levels above us. But we won't be going into the game with that mindset.

We'll be going in to try and win it.”