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.