Favourites feared in under 21 matches

March 6th, 2010 by Kevin Egan

It’s a particularly busy weekend for a lot of the better younger footballers all across the country, with under 21 matches today and a full round of league games taking place tomorrow. Depending on how seriously managers are taking the national league and the under 21 championship, players could easily end up being asked to take part in both competitions, and from a betting point of view, that will be something to keep a close eye on when the league matches thrown in tomorrow – who will be deploying the greatest number of tired young legs.

For now though, betting has been offered on the four matches taking place in Leinster this afternoon and in several cases, it looks as if the odds makers are steering clear of the fancied teams, with very short prices on offer about several counties.

Taking Off the Ground’s home county of Offaly first, and and 1/2 is extremely short about a good but untried Offaly under 21 team. This game was postponed when most of the first round ties took place due to a couple of players from Carlow’s panel having commitments with the county’s senior hurlers, so for both of these teams this is the first outing of the year. This is largely the Carlow team that reached the 2007 Leinster minor final, powered by the hugely impressive Brendan Murphy at midfield. Most of that team will line out this afternoon in O’Connor Park, with Murphy likely to be the dominant influence in the game. Offaly’s 2007 minor crop was somewhat disappointing and ended up losing badly to Laois in that year’s Leinster semi final, but they now enjoy favouritism, probably due to the fact that many of the players have already played league football for the county seniors.

This Offaly group is being keenly watched in the county and the emergence of Brian Connor as a genuine intercounty standard midfielder means that those in attendance in Tullamore should be treated to a great battle at the middle of the field, but there is no reason why the home side should be such a short price in a game that could easily go either way. A crafty group of home forwards might make the difference, but at 15/8 Carlow are certainly the more interesting team from a betting perspective.

Wicklow at 15/8 may also make a lot of appeal to punters after their comprehensive first round win over Longford, compounded by the fact that they will enjoy home advantage against a Laois team that has been struggling at senior level at least. However in this instance, while they are not really worthy of recommendation at 1/2, Laois are still very much the more likely winners due to the much greater level of proven talent in their ranks. The 2007 Leinster minor champions have not progressed as much as was hoped inside the Queen’s county, but they still should have enough to come through here – albeit narrowly.

However of all the outsiders playing today, the recommendation has to be 2pts on Louth to turn over Dublin at 5/2. The Wee county had a very comprehensive win the first round against Wexford, albeit a very moderate Wexford side, but this result was far from out of character for this Louth team. Despite having no obvious big names, they have accumulated some large scores on the challenge circuit as well and will fancy themselves to make a great game of it today in Drogheda.

Dublin have an excellent team on paper, but they are untried as of yet and have a very hit and miss record at this grade. They could end up winning the All Ireland, but as any under 21 follower will tell you, performance at this grade is often as much about gathering momentum as anything else. Now is definitely the time to oppose them and at 5/2, the price is ideal for doing so.

Tags: Louth, under 21