Gaelic Football

Traversing the country in search of value

September 11th, 2009 by Kevin Egan

While Croke Park will be hosting three All Ireland finals this Sunday, it’s probably not unreasonable that for most of the GAA membership all across the country this weekend, the real focus will be on the club fixtures that are being played all across Ireland. The weekend in between All-Ireland finals is traditionally one where counties put busy programmes in place and this weekend is no different, with several very interesting betting opportunities resulting from the wide range of fixtures being played.

First to catch the eye among the range of games on offer is the Sligo senior football semi-final between Coolera/Strandhill and Eastern Harps. Harps started the year are strong favourites due to their status as champions, but they’ve been extremely inconsistent this season and could easily have fallen at the quarter-final hurdle against a quite moderate Calry/St Josephs team, who just about failed to secure the win on the first day before succumbing by ten point points in a replay. Ultimately it was always likely to prove beyond Calry/St Josephs to knock out Harps, but the same cannot be said about Coolera/Strandhill who have a championship pedigree and have been building up nicely this year. A score of 1-17 in the quarter final replay for Harps last Sunday suggests that they’ve hit a vein of form, but at 15/8, it’s well worth a speculative 1pt bet on Coolera/Strandhill to take out the champions.

Staying in Connacht, the Galway football championship semi finals are also down for decision and the meeting of Corofin and Salthill/Knocknacarra is likely to have a huge bearing on not just the Galway championship but also the provincial and All Ireland series, with the winner of this tie likely to be a single figure price for the All-Ireland title in March. The city club are well endowed with star names, but there was a lot to like about the efficient manner of Corofin’s win over Killererin in the quarter final and they look to have rediscovered their form from twelve months ago. The Corofin defence remains as good a club unit as exists in Ireland and while this is not going to be a high scoring game, the north Galway club are still good value to eke out a one or two point win here. A 2pt bet on Corofin at 5/6 is the recommendation.

Finally we have the Antrim football semi-final, where Cargin meet St Galls in what is likely to be a very tight encounter. Cargin are a very dangerous team and are capable of pulling off an upset here, but it would still be an upset, and at 4/5 it’s worth taking a chance on the favourites who approach this game in fine form. CJ McGourty is a wild card for Cargin and this is not a game for big stakes, but at 4/5 it’s worth putting a 1pt bet on St Galls to shackle the mercurial teacher and to secure the honours.

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Categories: Gaelic Football

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