The first tip in our multi-sport weekend treble are Clare to beat Galway. Anthony Cunningham's team haven't shown enough in this year's Championship to be 4/6 with Ladbrokes to beat an improving Clare side. After only scraping past Laois, the Tribesmen's performance in the Leinster final was very disappointing and the chances of them returning to the form they showed to reach the All-Ireland final in 2012 on Sunday don't look too promising. Serious doubts remain over the spine of their defence and as hurling fans have heard a thousand times, Galway are placing too much of the scoring burden on Joe Canning. Despite his sensational goal against Dublin, Galway need more from David Burke and none of Conor Cooney, Niall Burke or Davy Glennon have progressed to the stage where you would trust them to carry the fight to Clare if Canning is held.
Losing Tony Kelly would be a blow for Davy Fitzgerald's side but even if he doesn't start, Clare's forward line is still brimming with potential if Davy loosens the tactical strait-jacket. We think Clare will definitely play a more direct game than we saw in the second half of the Munster semi-final and their defence is more than good enough to limit Galway's attack.
Despite the difference in odds and levels of expectation, Galway might fare better with the bigger ball this weekend. Alot will depend on Tom Flynn and Paul Conroy standing up to be counted against what is effectively a three-man midfield of Alan O'Connor, Pearse O'Neill and Aidan Walsh. Presuming that all those Cork players actually start this weekend is slightly risky given Conor Counihan's penchant for 'dummy teams' but therein lies the issue. Cork's selection and gameplan look flawed and its hard to really trust them to blow Galway away. Even though Anthony Mullholland's side weren't that impressive in beating Armagh last week, its still encouraging that their defence nullified the threat of Jamie Clarke. Galway with a seven point start are 5/6 and we think that's well within their capabilities.
With some trepidation, we'll back Cavan +12 to beat London on the handicap for the last part of the treble. Mayo played badly last week and still cruised to the Connacht title by 16 points. This is Cavan's first appearance at Croke Park in the Championship since 1997 so a lack of intensity and focus is unlikely to be a problem. The pace of their transitions and defensive organisation is a couple of levels above what London can offer and should have enough to beat the spread.
So, in summary our treble is:
Clare to beat Galway at 6/4,
Galway(+7) to beat Cork at 5/6,
Cavan(-12) to beat London at Evens
at a price of just over 8/1
Picture credit: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
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