Kilmurry drowning out of their depth

February 19th, 2010 by Kevin Egan

Readers of Off the Ground could be forgiven for wondering whether or not this column will ever let a Kilmurry-Ibrickane game go by without taking an opinion one way or another, but having taken a variety of views on the Clare and Munster Champions up to this point, there’s hardly any point in stopping now. The Claremen are simply the kind of team that don’t follow the usual script when it comes to betting, and that’s ideal for the purposes of this column.

The battle hardened men from the Banner County were definitely underestimated this year in a Munster context, but it should not be forgotten that this was a Munster championship shorn of any leading contender along the lines of a Dr. Crokes or a Nemo Rangers flagship team. The first round against Dromcollogher Broadford was probably the most likely game in which Kilmurry could have slipped up and once they negotiated that challenge, they were unlikely to miss out on their Munster crown.

The Clare champions also came very close to suffering the fate of being the first Irish provincial champion to fall in Ruislip, but a scrappy goal got them over the line against a Tír Chonaill Gaels team who will always regret blowing such a golden opportunity. There are no more soft touches left for them now though with only the elite club teams remaining – and Kilmurry simply aren’t in that league. They play Portlaoise this weekend in the Gaelic Grounds, but even if it were Corofin or St. Galls on the agenda, the verdict would be the same – this is simply a bridge too far for a committed but limited side.

Laois football may be at a low ebb as the legacy of the Mick O’Dwyer era starts to manifest itself, but even in the worst of times for Laois football, the townies were always a force to be reckoned with and they appear to be as strong as ever this year. The fixing of this tie for the Gaelic Grounds may appear to favour the Clare men and gepographically it is a ridiculous choice with Thurles lying idle on Sunday, but the wide open expanses of the Ennis Road venue are unlikely to suit the hard grafters of Kilmurry who, rumour has it, had been hoping to get the game fixed for Nenagh. The suspension of wing back Declan Callinan, another trial-by-television disiplinary decision, will also hurt the Munster champions. Portlaoise have been playing well in challenge matches and if they come close to their true form, they should cover the three point spread. A 2pt bet on Portlaoise minus three points at 6/5 is the recommendation.

Also staying with the same game, the bookmakers are breaking new ground with a price of 5/2 about no goals in the match. This would suggest a goal expectancy of 1.1 or 1.2 for the game, which is extremely low by any normal measure. KIB don’t score or concede goals freely, indeed their three Munster championship matches were all goal-less, but this is Portlaoise they are facing, who do rattle the twines frequently enough. The relatively unheralded Paul Cahillane is their main goal threat and the reason he is not as well known as he could be is because he has recently returned from a stint at Celtic and his time playing soccer has fine tuned his eye for goal. He is without question the main goalscoring threat on this team and at 7/1, two 1pt bets on Paul Cahillane to score the first and last goal of the game are definitely in order.

Looking briefly to the second semi final, this column is carrying in an antepost each way position on Corofin and despite the groundswell of opinion that St. Galls are the worthy favourites, I still fancy the Galway champions to progress. There is very little in between these two excellent teams and if the Galls attack can score at anything like the frequency they usually do, they’ll win this game handily because Corofin just don’t have fourteen or fifteen scores in them. Nonetheless, Corofin will take to the field armed with the best club defence in Ireland and they can suffocate and frustrate a Galls forward unit which is high on class but not always big into graft. Conservative types may wish to cover their positions here, but at the prices offered there is simply no value, so we wouldn’t recommend it.

Tags: All Ireland club championship, Paul Cahillane, Portlaoise