Donegal v Cork, Saturday, 4pm
Saturday’s smash up looks tight. Donegal could be suffering from a hangover after getting caught in added time by Tyrone in the Ulster Championship but they have had two weeks to recover from that defeat and should be refreshed now as they have a young enough squad.
While Cork have gotten their act together on the road again and put Longford away in their last game, Donegal will set up very defensively and just try to edge through.
The smart play may be the total number of points market in what could be a low-scoring affair between the teams.
Paddy Power bet 4/5 that there will be less than 34.5 points scored and that seems the safest option in this game.
Mayo v Westmeath, Saturday, 6pm
The Westerners have started to look more like their old selves and are long odds on to win this game. Westmeath on the other hand, got a thumping off Dublin in the Leinster Final with the Capital pulling up in front when the game was over.
Mayo should beat them handily as the match betting suggests. But you can get evens that the West of Ireland side will out-gun the beaten Leinster finalists by more than 10 points on the handicap betting.
If a first goalscorer bet is more your thing, then Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor fits the bill at 7/2. He takes the penalties too and rarely misses.
Jump to it. Kick on to all the latest betting on PP.com
Kerry v Clare, Sunday, 2pm
A 10-point lead looks too generous for the Kingdom so I’m backing Clare to get a result at evens (+10) in the handicap market.
The Banner County have improved all year and David Tubridy at full forward is a real goalscorer while Gary Brennan is a great player in the middle of the field. They can both cause the Kingdom problems.
There’s no Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper for Kerry to bank on as their goal machine anymore but James O Donoghue and Paul Geaney (who has been scoring goals for fun) are a good place to start for the Kingdom.
Kerry should win the game but Clare can beat the handicap to get the first part of a double up on Sunday.
Galway v Tipperary, Sunday, 4pm
The Tribesmen are the scond part of my Sunday double as I think they’ll defy the handicap and beat Tipperary by more than three points at 10/11.
Liam Kearns’ defence will struggle to keep the Galway forwards at bay and the Connacht champions have enough players wanting to make an impression to ensure they keep the foot on the pedal right until the final whistle.
An obvious first goalscorer for Galway is Danny Cummins while Shane Walsh is one of the fastest players around and could be a bit of value in that market to break his goal duck this weekend.
So the Sunday double at around 7/2 on the handicap betting is:
- Galway to win by more than 3 points
- Clare to lose by less than 10 points