Because Cork IT and St. Mary’s of Belfast are more than 200 miles from each other, the rules stipulate that the Ulster team must forfeit their home advantage and thus their clash is being played in Newbridge. Cork IT retain the services of many of their star men from last season’s victorious panel and will probably attract support at 4/7 from plenty of sources, but yours truly would be very wary of putting a lot of faith into this Cork team. They are strong, that is without doubt, but they were still very much a surprise package when they won this event last year, even with home advantage on their side. They might just be over-rated a little by those odds. St. Mary’s don’t attract the same attention as the other two Northern teams, but they have plenty of quality in their ranks and they were very impressive in putting away Mary Immaculate college in the first round. Cork IT might scrape home here, but they won’t get it easy. Draw is probably the value bet, though there are better punting prospects out there.

One such prospect would be Sligo IT at 6/5 to take out the Guards. Sligo looked solid but unspectacular in the FBD league and aren’t blessed with that many big name players, but they may still have enough to overcome a very moderate Garda College side, who enter this competition with a huge cloud of pessimism hanging over their chances. The Guards are always an unknown quantity to a certain degree, but there is no way they should be favourites here, after a disappointing Sigerson campaign in 2009 and with far fewer recruits in the current climate. A 2pt bet on Sligo IT at 6/5 is recommended here.

This column suggested recently that NUIG were a good outright bet at 12/1 and that remains the advice, but that suggestion was on the basis that this is a team with plenty of potential who might surprise a lot of observers if they get a run going. That still doesn’t counteract the fact that UCC, under the guidance of Billy Morgan, have improved considerably on last year and they have the huge advantage of having a game under their belts. They are coming from a very low base, but with home advantage on their side, they will give Galway plenty to think about. If Galway are good enough to win this, they are good enough to reach the final with very little else in their way, so the best strategy here is back the outright and leave the match betting alone.

Jordanstown against Queen’s University is a game to savour and it is actually quite disappointing that live coverage wasn’t made available by some innovative broadcaster, but what is for certain is that 4/9 is a fool’s bet here. UUJ are league winners and an excellent team, but both sides will know that they’re in for a humdinger of a clash here and in a local derby as keenly felt as this, anything can happen. Queen’s don’t possess quite the same amount of forward power, but they aren’t 9/4 shots even so. A 1pt bet on Queen’s at 9/4 is recommended.

DCU and UCD is another Dublin derby, but UCD look a little short on quality if they are to turn over an incredibly talented DCU team. There was plenty of money for Meath last Sunday on the grounds that DCU were likely to field a weakened team. The fact that DCU, as expected, fielded a weakened team but still won says all that needs to be said about how good they are. They should win this, but have blown it enough times previously to preclude punting at 2/7.

Athlone IT were also recommended in this column at 40/1 and not unlike we discussed in the case of NUIG, outright value does not always imply match value. AIT should win this over a very average UL team, but away from home at 5/6, there’s no point in betting here. Better value will appear as the competition goes on.

Finally we come to GMIT, who trade at very short odds of 4/11 against Dundalk IT. The western college have lost a lot of key performers from last year, including their two main forwards in Donie Shine and Niall Darby and they don’t look to have any significant improvement in the tank from their solid but unspectacular displays in the FBD league. Generally it’s hard to imagine such a moderate team trading at 4/11 – however in order to oppose them, one must have someone to oppose them with, and Dundalk don’t look like that team, or at the very least, we can’t say with any reasonable degree of confidence what they might be like. Last year the Louth college gave Garda college an excellent game and if they haven’t deteriorated too much, they could easily stay right in contention. Their absence from the O’Byrne Cup makes them very hard to assess, but on the grounds that GMIT would barely be 4/11 against Dundalk secondary schools, the outsiders could be worth watching, even if backing them would be very much siding with the tournaments real dark horse.

Though the GAA has evolved in the last few decades as well, most would say that the changes brought about have been largely for the better and introduced gradually, causing no real shock to the system. However one aspect where the administrators really need to take a look at themselves is in the area of marketing.

At no time of the year is this more obvious than now, when two of the best competitions from a viewing perspective are about to slip into gear – the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups. In no other sport would a competition of this stature, featuring a mix of many of the big stars of the day and many more of the big stars of the future, be brushed under the carpet. Indeed at times, it can be difficult to even find out where the games are on, such is the lack of promotion.

Thankfully, there are betting odds available for the Sigerson at least and thus the opportunity exists to have a good thorough look and see what value might lurk out there.

Heading the market at 7/2 are University of Ulster Jordanstown, followed by DCU at 4/1. This looks reasonably correct as these two sides look to be a good cut above all the other competing colleges. Indeed if the draw had been different but with the same prices, both of these colleges could have been excellent betting material as a combined 11/8 shot – but it’s simply not realistic with the draw the way it is to make such a wager. Both colleges face fiercely difficult local derbies next Wednesday and even if they get through those, tricky assignments await in the quarter final stages as well. Upon beating Queen’s University, UUJ would meet Maynooth and while Maynooth don’t look spectacular on paper, never underestimate the motivation of a team with home advantage in the finals weekend to play for.

DCU, if they overcome UCD, would face an even trickier tie against, in all probability, the holders, Cork IT. All of that is before the two colleges potentially meet each other in the top semi final!

Clearly, whatever value is to be found is lurking on the other side of the draw, where no college is priced below 8/1. The two colleges at that price are UCC, who scraped past DIT last Wednesday, and Garda College. The guards are always dangerous and remain one of the most difficult colleges to assess since their player turnover is so high, but it is that sense of uncertainty that has them priced so short, rather than any other factor. Players like John Miskella will always catch the eye and they won’t be easily beaten, but they would need to spring a lot of surprises to make it to the final weekend.

UCC’s short price is even more mystifying – they scraped past a DIT team that wasn’t nearly as interested in the competition this year as they were last year, and despite Billy Morgan’s influence, they simply don’t have the quality needed to go deep into the contest. They were very poor in 2009 and while home advantage against Galway is very useful, they aren’t good enough to win the whole thing. If they beat NUIG, it will be a statement of how disappointing Galway were as much as anything else.

So clearly, if Garda College and UCC don’t look appealing, for the same reasons their opponents next Wednesday, IT Sligo and NUIG, are well worthy of attention. Both colleges enjoyed decent campaigns in the FBD league, they have a good smattering of county players, and in Galway’s case in particular, they’ve been building up nicely to this point over the past couple of seasons. Of the two, they are the ones with the greater upside. If NUIG can come away from the Mardyke still intact, they should find the quarter final stage very manageable, with neither GMIT nor Dundalk IT looking like anything special this year. Cork’s extra game and home advantage might be their undoing, but if NUIG are as good as this column suspects they might be, they could scrape home and improve immensely from that point onwards.

The wild cards in this half of the draw are, somehwat surprisingly, Athlone IT. UL didn’t pull up any trees against Carlow and Athlone have recruited well in the Winter and would be favoured to eke out a result against them. Raymond Galligan remains a serious threat from corner forward, but it’s the now boys from Offaly, John Reynolds, Brian Connor and Matt Mitchell, as well as Westmeath keeper Gary Connaughton, who have really given the team some oomph. They should beat UL and will give Sligo/the Guards plenty to think about as well. At 40/1, they certainly have a much better chance than several colleges who are half their price or worse.

With the draw the way it is, an each way punt is an absolute necessity. 1pt each way on Athlone IT at 40/1 is more than enough to bet at that kind of price, and we’ll combine that with 1.5pts each way on NUIG at 10/1. Winning this competition might be beyond either of these colleges, but with the each way terms as they are and the possibility for an upset in a one off final, it’s worth taking the chance. Now all the GAA needs is someone to watch what should be the best quality football, outside of the intercounty championships, that will take place all year.

Obviously one can assume that whichever oddsmaker took the lead, any of those who followed would have strongly tempered their opinion and largely fallen into line, however it’s still somewhat surprising that in such a large vacuum of information, there hasn’t been more disparity of opinion. For what it’s worth, here is a brief rundown of the games as this column can see them.

Queens University vs UUJ is very much the high class fixture of the round, with the winners likely to be somewhere between 1/1 and 6/4 to close out the tournament once the outrights are revised. We saw Queens’ hand in the McKenna Cup, with Charlie Vernon very much the engine behind some of their better performances. They come into this game as 4/7 favourites and in truth it’s hard to argue with that. On paper they are the better side, they’ve improved immensely since earlier in the year when they failed to pull up any trees, but this is the closest thing to a local derby you’ll get in third level games and I’d be shocked if there was any more than a few points separating these by the end. Draw is probably the value bet, but being honest this is a game to watch and savour, for anyone who is within an hour’s drive. Expect a top quality match at the Dub today and keep your money in your pocket, no betting interest is needed.

Mullahoran is the venue for NUI Galway vs St Mary’s under the somewhat odd rule that games where the two colleges are more than 200 miles apart must be held at neutral venues. It means that one man and his dog will probably be the only supporters in attendance, but nonetheless for betting purposes this is one of the games to keep an eye on. NUIG haven’t got a plethora of star names such as when Michael Meehan and Sean Armstrong were leading the line, but they have got a good and deep panel of solid county panellists and starters, with many of their young Roscommon contingent in particular looking like they have a very bright future ahead. Their status as underdogs for this match is questionable to say the least. The mercurial CJ McGourty is a tricky customer to mark, but if he and his fellow county man Kevin Niblock can be stopped, the hunch is that NUIG might get over the line here.

DIT vs Athlone IT has no bet written all over it. On paper DIT should eat them alive, but as DIT themselves will testify after last year when they carried on their early good form to stun DCU, there is huge merit to having a game under your belt and Athlone have that with a good first round win down in Tralee. Grangegorman is a very soft pitch at the best of times and that could level matters up further, while any team dependant on Mark Vaughan for scores is a little bit hot and cold. DIT should win, but at odds of 2/9, this is no bet country.

IT Sligo vs DCU will similarly see no recommendation from this column, however we wouldn’t be as worried about the fortunes of DCU as we would that of their metropolitan counterparts above. IT Sligo have regressed hugely from their position of great strength at the start of the decade and their performances in the FBD league were very poor. Home advantage will rouse them a little, but anything other than a comfortable DCU victory here would be a huge upset. 1/5 is possibly even value, for those who like those kind of odds.

The third Dublin college in action is UCD who entertain the University of Limerick. Now this writer doesn’t have statistics for the Sigerson Cup to hand, but the gut feeling is that one would have to go back a long way to find the last time UL beat UCD in a championship football match – however today could very easily be the day, and this is this column’s main recommendation for this round of games. Football in UL is being taken a lot more seriously this year, with no dual players in the panel to upset preparations. Dr Cian O’Neill has done a great job with this team to the point where they are fiercely competitive and defending ferociously from the front. UCD have the reputation and the history, but they simply do not appear to have the footballers this year. If Mark Ronaldson can be shut down, they don’t appear to have any free scoring forwards at all, while they should have no match for David Moran and Fiachra O’Neill who will man the Limerick midfield. UL should be strong favourites for this tie and the recommendation is to bet appropriately at the 5/4 and bigger available.

Dundalk IT have been written off completely in their game against Garda College, which is probably understandable. Garda came very close to winning this competition last year, while their Winter form has been excellent. However at 11/2 with home advantage, it would be silly not to have a very small nibble at Dundalk. They have a moderate team with a couple of incisive players, but they also have a game under their belts and may yet catch the Guards on the hop. This could go spectacularly wrong, but your writer used to be an odds compiler and the Gardaí are the type of odds on shot that you love to lay – they could be brilliant and they could win by ten points or more, but you never know. Very small stakes, but worth a wager.

Finally we come to the last game to be decided, GMIT hosting UCC. This is another game where frankly, reputation appears to have decided favouritism. UCC simply do not appear to have that much quality in their ranks, while GMIT are a capable, if limited, group of players. They took some hammerings in the FBD league but they also picked up a win over Leitrim and have a few players to come back in and bolster their panel from those games. With home advantage, they have every chance of winning this contest between two colleges which have no chance in the overall scheme of things. Again, a small wager is advised. UL is definitely the bet of the round, but there is value to be had in the 11/8 available about GMIT.

EDIT: It appears that both the UCD vs UL game and the NUIG vs St. Marys match have been called off due to the inclement conditions. With that in mind, the best path is probably a medium to small bet on GMIT, doubled with DCU if you are so inclined, and then a token single on Dundalk IT. Best of luck!