Another weekend of GAA action is here, and with it, the opportunity to win (but most likely lose) money to the bookies. It's an intriguing weekend, no doubt, and many headaches have been caused in Balls HQ trying to discern this weekend's winners. Our advice: tread lightly.
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Without further ado, we present out bets of the weekend.
- Dublin -14 over Laois
- Westmeath +12 over Galway
- Offaly -2 over Laois
- Monaghan -4 over Down
- Clare -1 over Waterford
Our logic:
- After winning the League final by 11 points, Dublin head into their preseason - aka Leinster - for some target practice. Dublin won their 3 games in Leinster last year by 27 points, 19 points, and 13 points respectively. Laois were relegated from Division 2 and are in a bad place. Nowlan Park may somewhat stifle the Dubs attack but Laois will wilt eventually and the goals will come.
- Galway will play their first game in two months tomorrow in Mullingar. In that time span, Westmeath have proved their class and swept the round robin. Galway have bad vibes; Westmeath beat Kilkenny for the first time in any grade in U21s last week. We can't see Westmeath winning but we can see them making this very awkward for Galway.
- We don't trust Offaly, but we really don't trust Laois. Given the border rivalry and Offaly's clinical dismissal of Kerry two weeks ago, we think it'll be Offaly's day and a very bad weekend for Laois GAA.
- Clare v Waterford is the hardest game to call of the weekend. The teams have played twice in the last month. One was a draw that Waterford should have won. The other was a Clare win that Waterford could have won. Waterford will be bringing in some added artilery for this game, but this one comes down to backing the team you think will win. Waterford have been impressive under McGrath but have they ever claimed a big scalp? Do they have the ruthlessness to go out and actually win a game - not just smother it? Until they prove me wrong, I'm backing Clare.
- Banker of the weekend: Down haven't won a game in yonks and the bookies continue to flatter underdogs. The Ulster games this summer haven't been close and we think Monaghan win this by about six.
3 quid gets you 87 euro with Ladbrokes. Get on it, we think.
