The All Ireland championships really kick off this weekend as we are treated to a bumper weekend of action. The action gets underway in Clones on Saturday night, as Monaghan and neighbours Fermanagh open the Ulster Championship, while there are also games in Connacht and Leinster on Sunday.
Laois begin their campaign against Longford is the main local interest while Tipperary v Cork is the highlight of the hurling weekend on Sunday in the Munster Hurling Championship. We have looked at all the games, and have come up with a number of selections which are covered below.
Monaghan vs Fermanagh – Saturday at 7pm (Live on RTE)
Fermanagh arrive into this contest on the back of a number of injuries and withdrawals from their squad. Manager Pete McGrath confirmed that they will be missing six players from the team that lost to Mayo in the qualifiers in 2016.
Tomas Corrigan, who now plays with Dublin Club side Plunketts, has being carrying a hamstring injury, and was not seen in their recent defeat to Castleknock. Monaghan had a successful league campaign, with Jack McCarron establishing himself as a real prospect. Fermanagh’s league campaign ended in relegation from Division 2, and it was their inability to score goals which ultimately cost them.
They only managed to score one goal in their seven league games, and with this being an Ulster Championship game, we don’t expect Monaghan to offer up many opportunities to their neighbours. The Even money on offer with Ladbrokes for no Fermanagh goal looks like the way to go here and we have a 3pt stake on that.
Louth vs Wicklow – Sunday at 3
Louth were the real success story of the league as they earned promotion from Division 3, topping the table and earning victories over Laois, Longford, Offaly, Antrim and Tipperary along the way. They did suffer defeat in the league final to Tipp, but the contest was close until a key turnover earned Tipp a vital goal.
Wicklow really suffered in Division 4, only winning the one game against London, in a game which London played most of the 2nd half with 13 men. Manager Johnny McGee was ratified for a second term by the county board last winter which did not go down well with Wicklow supporters.
Fans believe a lot of their best footballers are not playing for the county side and the blame has been placed at the manager’s and county board’s door. Louth are a classy side, and with the likes of Ryan Burns in their ranks they should easily account for Wicklow. We will have a 3pt stake on Louth -4 at 8/11 with Paddy Power.
Mayo vs Sligo – Sun 14:00 (Live on RTE)
Mayo open their campaign against Sligo in Castlebar on Sunday. The Yeats men returned from New York with a win, after much media hype tipping a possible New York victory.
With forwards like David Kelly, Pat Hughes, Adrian Marren and Mark Breheny, Sligo have enough talent in their forward line to ask questions of this Mayo backline. Ger Cafferkey is named to start at full back for Mayo, having missed the entire 2016 campaign, and it will be interesting to see how he goes.
Big Aidan O’Shea has been named on the bench, and the rumour mill in Mayo is rife with the reasoning for this decision. There is a thought process out there that Stephen Rochford is reminding him of where his focus should be. Sligo having the advantage of already playing a game, should start strong and put it up to Mayo in the early exchanges.
They will have learned from their Connacht final drubbing in 2015 and with the emergence of some young talent they should take the game to Mayo. Sligo to be winning at any stage of the game is even money with Paddy Power and we think that it could be a great call if they can get a fast start. We will have a 2pt selection on this.
Laois v Longford – Sunday at 3pm
Laois aim to put their disastrous spring behind them. Their defeat to Offaly was a severe blow to the new management team under Peter Creedon.
Their indiscipline and inability to put away teams when opportunity arose cost them thus far. Their final league game was played in a championship-style atmosphere and was a thoroughly enjoyable game played at a great pace. The final score of 3-15 to 4-11 to Offaly was generous to the O Moore men and they can be thankful for the performance of Donie Kingston for their scoring exploits in this game.
Laois averaged 15 points per game in the league and we expect them to beat this on Sunday. In last year’s Leinster championship, they scored 3-16 against Wicklow and 2-10 versus Dublin. Longford like Laois also averaged 15 points per game in the league.
They were quite lucky to stay up in this year’s league and Laois should have defeated them by more in their clash last April. In last year’s championship, they put some big scores up, the highlights being their 2-24 against Down (AET) and 2-13 against Monaghan.
Longford are a battle hardened side and there is a belief that they have a serious chance at 15/8. In fairness to Laois, they have struggled to put their strongest side out throughout the league and on Sunday they finally have nearly a full hand to pick from. They may this game but we believe the value bet in this game is over 32.5 points. We will have a 1.5 point stake on this @ 5/6 with Paddy Power.
As mentioned above both teams scored well in last year’s championship and the 1st round of the Leinster Championship has a tendency to throw up high scoring affairs. We hope this will be the case on Sunday.
Tipperary v Cork(Hurling) – Sunday at 4pm
The game of the weekend takes in Thurles this Sunday at 4pm. A wounded Tippearary take on the frustrating enigma that is the Cork hurlers.
Cork impressed in the league against Clare, Waterford and Tipperary but were pretty woeful against Dublin, Kilkenny and Limerick. One consistent facet of Cork’s form has been their inability to score goals. Three goals in six league games and two in three championship games last year.
In fairness to the Rebels, they have some quality forwards in Lehane, Harnedy, Meade and co which makes their lack of goal threat a little baffling. Tipperary face into this game following their capitulation against Galway in the league final.
They conceded 3-21 against the Tribesmen and their full back line in particular was taken apart. Michael Cahill and Donagh Maher are rumoured to be out which robs them of two corner back options ahead of Sunday. If Tipp want to retain their All Ireland, they need to tighten up and we believe there will be a defensive backlash this Sunday.
We take Cork to score under 1.5 goals Sunday, 2.5 point stake @ 8/11 with Paddy Power. For those of you who prefer a riskier bet, they are 3/1 to not score a goal.
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SEE ALSO – The Bear in the Square’s football championship preview
