Longford tried to lure several players from Athlone claims Lennon

In the build-up to Saturday"s local derby against rivals Longford Town, Athlone manager Dermot Lennon has revealed up to '90 per cent' of his squad were offered contracts by Longford before the season started. Longford managed to persuade Ryan Casey, Ronan Frawley and Luke Hardy to swap Lissywoollen for Flancare Park - and also beat Athlone to the signings of former players Iarfhlaith Davoren, who has since left Longford to rejoin Galway Utd, and Damien Rushe. Lennon claims Longford offered certain Athlone players much more money than they could earn with Athlone and said he was unsurprised to hear of financial instability at Longford as the season progressed. Lennon said: 'We have players who were offered more money to play for Longford but decided to stay here. It means a lot to our players to beat Longford and hopefully we can do that on Saturday. 'About 90 per cent of our squad from last season were asked to join Longford this year. Some lads agreed - others stayed here. I suppose that"s the nature of football but there are local lads playing for Longford who should really be playing for us.' Lennon added: 'You always want to beat your local rivals. I think our players still hurt from the 3-0 drubbing we received in Longford earlier in the season. We got some form of revenge when we beat them 1-0 in Lissywoollen but that defeat in Flancare Park is still very fresh in the memory. I think the players want to go to Flancare Park and show Longford people we are a better side than the one which lost 3-0 in May. I think we"ll win the game if we play to our potential. Getting three points against Longford would be a huge boost for the remainder of the season. Longford have been struggling badly in recent weeks and I"m not sure morale is too high over there. Vinny Perth seems to be positive about taking over from Aaron Callaghan and maybe he will give them a lift.' Lennon could have veteran defender Jim Sheridan available again to play against Longford, while long-term injury casualty David O"Dowd could also be included in the squad. Niall Scullion remains sidelined through injury but otherwise Athlone could be close to full strength on Saturday.