Having covered the main action this weekend, all that remains is to cast our eye over the underage and club action taking place, though bets are hard to come by at a time of year when clubs are still finding their feet.

Leinster MHC

Offaly host Wexford in O’Connor Park at 2pm to get things underway in the first of three Leinster championship battles between these two counties at minor, U21 and senior level this year. Both these counties should have their work cut out for them in competing with Kilkenny and Dublin for provincial honours, but Wexford look a lot closer to the mark than the home side. Wexford will have as many as five starters from last year’s team that beat Offaly by a goal in Wexford Park, while due to injuries to Cillian Kiely and Ethan Mannion, Offaly will only have goalkeeper Conor Clancy coming back in from their 2011 team. 4/11 is a very short price but based on challenge match results so far, Wexford still represent a worthwhile addition to accumulator bets.

Westmeath have lost the vast majority of last year’s very successful minor team but even so they probably are the better value call for their match with Laois at Cusack Park in Mullingar. Senior panellists Robbie Greville and Niall O’Brien both feature for the Lake county minors and that kind of big game experience is crucial at this level. Laois should have a decent team on paper but they’ve struggled on the challenge match circuit and have been the poor relation between these two midland counties in recent years.

Tipperary SHC

The county hurlers might be in action against Cork, but the South board in Tipp rarely lets such things bother them and they’ve fixed two qualifier matches for this weekend. Killenaule will beat Davins by as much as they like, though punters won’t get rich at prices of 1/5 and shorter, while the battle between Carrick Swan and Ballingarry is expected to be a close one. Swan were given the slightest of edges by most bookmakers but their chances increased hugely when it was released that Ballingarry free taker Seán Cahill would miss out on the fixture due to injury. In a tight battle like this, that one factor could be crucial and anything better than 8/11 about a win for Swan here is well worth taking.

Westmeath SFC

The standout price here has to be the 5/1 about Tyrrellspass beating Garrycastle in the first round tomorrow. If this were a knockout quarter final or semi final this price would be accurate, but Garrycastle have played no league games and concentrated entirely on their All Ireland run up to the start of this month. Since then Anthony Cunningham has stepped down with no replacement, most of the players have taken a few weeks off and in a six team group, realistically they don’t need to be at their best yet. Tyrrellspass are a dangerous opponent at any time and the news that David Glennon has trasferred back down to his home club from St Sylvesters in Dublin is a massive boost. Boylesports offer 5/1 here and that could easily be the bet of the week.

While you’re there, have a nibble at 7/4 about Athlone to beat the Downs. Athlone have toiled in the shadow of their more illustrious neighbours for the past decade and more, but they’ve still got a good pick of players and under the tutelege of former Offaly player and manager Tom Coffey, they’ve gone really well this season, scoring freely in the first division of the league. The Downs are a solid, tough club but they do lack flair and while our verdict here might be different if the betting was even money each of two, price is always the first and foremost factor in determining a bet and 7/4 Athlone is enough to point us in that direction.

Aside from the action in the national hurling league, the rest of the weekend is a mixed bag of high class league football, lower division league football, club football, and schools hurling. In no particular order, here’s our selection from that particular a la carte menu.

Crossmaglen vs Garrycastle

For their third game in a row a fortnight ago in Croke Park, Garrycastle were hanging on at the end of the match and were probably relieved to hear the final whistle. If they weren’t, they should have been. It’s all very well to say that the favourite usually wins the second day out and the return of Stephen Kernan from suspension certainly plays into the hands of the reigning Armagh, Ulster and All Ireland champions. However Garrycastle’s midfield had fallen apart, they were forced to deploy some of their best attacking talents in their own half of the field and if the game was to last ten minutes longer, Cross could have surged ahead and covered the spread.

Yet for all that, Garrycastle will learn from the experience of playing in Croke Park and returning to a more provincial setting in Cavan could play into their hands. William Hill were out on their own at 1/3 about a Cross win and weight of money has forced them to fall into line at 1/4, but after doubting Garrycastle twice in a row, we’re going to show a little faith in them this time around. They can lead at half time, though by the end, Cross will still probably be on top.

Mayo vs Dublin

Aidan O’Shea returns to bolster the Mayo midfield while Dublin are still short of two very powerful attacking weapons in Alan and Bernard Brogan. After a bright start to the season against Laois, Mayo have fallen away a little and their defeat to Cork last week could be a heavy blow to the county, or it could galvanise them. Either way, Dublin are slowly getting into form but they’re not playing so well as to be worthy of support at 1/2, away from home, against a very decent Mayo team. Instead, we’ll just take Kevin McManamon at 9/1 to be the first goalscorer. The St Judes man was very sharp against Donegal and showed real penetration from the left corner position. If they are to score a goal, he could be the one to make the breakthrough.

Kilkenny CBS vs Nenagh CBS

This wasn’t the final pairing that was expected to materialise after the provincial championships were completed, in which both St Kieran’s College and Coláiste na nDéise looked very strong, but both of these underdogs produced big performances in the All Ireland series and now they have a chance to secure an All Ireland title this afternoon at Thurles.

Much has been made of the fixing of the game for a Tipperary venue, but in truth there is no reason why a top class hurling field roughly equidistant between the two schools should be an issue. Certainly it makes more sense than dragging the two schools to O’Moore Park in Portlaoise. The worry for Kilkenny CBS is that that by saying it’s an issue, you are creating that impression with the players. And with a very young team, that has to be a real concern. Kilkenny CBS are drawing heavily on their Under-16.5 team which was so successful this year and that lack of physique and mental maturity could be a handicap today. Nenagh CBS are used to hurling as underdogs and were expected to lose on several occasions this year, but they dug deep to produce huge performances against Thurles CBS, against Ard Scoil Rís, and of course against St Kierans. It’s hard to oppose that kind of battling tendency and here at Starbets we’re going to side with the Tipperary school to prevail.

Weekend GAA Recommendations

Crossmaglen vs Garrycastle: Garrycastle to lead at HT, Crossmaglen to win @ 13/2 (Hills)

Mayo vs Dublin: Kevin McManamon to score the first goal @ 9/1 (Hills)

Kilkenny CBS vs Nenagh CBS: Nenagh CBS to win @ 6/5 (Boylesports, Powers)

It’s Ulster versus the midlands in the All Ireland club hurling finals taking place tomorrow and the bookies expect the two “areas” to split the honours, favouring Coolderry and Crossmaglen to prevail. For Crossmaglen Rangers, playing in Croke Park is nothing new to them and they look to be well poised to take one step closer to Nemo Rangers on the all time roll of honour. However for Garrycastle, Coolderry and this generation of Loughgiel Shamrocks players, tomorrow will be a whole new experience.

Coolderry vs Loughgiel Shamrocks

As discussed previously, this column already has a strong position in this event and our 22/1 bet on Loughgiel Shamrocks winning the All Ireland back last Autumn is now looking very attractive. For those of you who have such a docket in your wallet or on your online account, by all means cover the stake to a certain degree and do so promptly while William Hill holds their 4/9 about Coolderry outright. However for those not invested yet, this is an intriguing tie and an outright bet might not be best advised. Coolderry have improved immeasurably since beating Birr in the Offaly county final and they are finally delivering on their longstanding potential, but Antrim champions have been competitive against all but the elite club sides and while Coolderry are very capable, they are not yet entitled to be ranked alongside Ballyhale, Portumna or Birr.

As an aside, for those with ten minutes to sparre and interested in a more indepth explanation of how Coolderry have got to this point, take a few moments and browse the excellent piece by Offaly hurling analyst Plain of the Herbs over on uibhfhaili.com – http://www.uibhfhaili.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5740

However it cannot be discounted how Coolderry will not intimidate Loughgiel nearly as much as a similarly able team from a hurling heartland such as Tipperary or Kilkenny may have done. Perhaps the two biggest success stories in Antrim’s hurling history – Loughgiel’s All Ireland win in 1983 and the All Ireland intercounty semi-final of 1989 – have come at the expense of Offaly opposition and this team will travel south expecting to go well. Crucial for Loughgiel will be measuring their clearances out of defence. Gort found out to their cost that if you hit aimless high clearances out of the backline, Joe Brady will dominate the skies and Loughgiel have no player that looks capable of competing with the big centre back.

However while we would recommend a covering bet on Coolderry for those who stand to win big on Loughgiel, for a standalone bet, the obvious selection is going high on total points. Both these sides score freely, and as Brian Cody pointed out last week, weather conditions have been so benign that teams are essentially playing summer hurling at the moment. Ladbrokes were 10/11 about over 35.5 points earlier in the week but have since cut their line – even at 4/5, they represent great value.

Crossmaglen Rangers vs Garrycastle

If you asked ten different analysts to rank the top twenty club football sides in Ireland at the start of last summer, Crossmaglen would have headed at least eight of the lists while it’s doubtful that anyone would have put Garrycastle in their list at all. The Westmeath champions were invariably competitive, but with the exception of their win over Portlaoise in the middle of the last decade, they had yet to take a significant scalp. Similar to teams like Kilmurry-Ibrickane, Rathnew and Glencar/Manorhamilton, they were a big fish in a very small pond. Even when they reached the Leinster final last December, they had yet to meet a highly regarded opponent and nobody considered them heavyweight contenders. Since then they have deservedly beaten St Brigids of Dublin and St Brigids of Roscommon, and people are looking at them in a whole new light.

However tomorrow represents a completely different challenge. The Connacht champions were tactically very naive in the semi final and allowed Dessie Dolan too much time being marked by Robbie Kelly, while intercounty defenders like Peter Domican and Ian Kilbride were playing in the half back line and watching the ball sail over their heads. Old stagers David O’Shaughnessy and Seanie O’Donoghue delivered a huge performance at midfield and they’ll need to do so again, but the long ball approach may not be as successful. Crossmaglen should have too much scoring power, too much know how and too much experience to lose this.

For a bet, the surprise has been how both of these sides have come up with goals this year. Hills are going 12/5 about over 2.5 goals and that looks like a great bet, with Garrycastle likely to be chasing the game and Crossmaglen capable of striking quickly and on the break.

All Ireland Club Finals Recommendations

Coolderry vs Loughgiel: Total points over 35.5 @ 4/5 (Ladbrokes)

Crossmaglen vs Garrycastle: Over 2.5 goals @ 12/5 (Hills)

A relatively quiet weekend of gaelic games activity meant that we had two games to concentrate on here on the and sadly, unlike last week when a correct score bet kept us in the black for the week, there were no such reprieves to be had. Crossmaglen won as expected, even though they made hard work of it, but St Brigids failed to bring their best game to Longford and they paid the price, falling victim to a highly charged and motivated Garrycastle outfit.

If you had told us on Friday that Crossmaglen would score three goals we’d have bet the farm on Jamie Clarke getting his name on one of them, but sadly it wasn’t to be and so it ended up a losing weekend for this column.

Taking a moment now to survey the games and assess them in the context of the upcoming final, it’s remarkable that while Powers and Ladbrokes each go very short about a Crossmaglen outright success – 1/4 and 2/9 respectively – both firms are only offering a three point handicap on the game, which would usually be more associated with betting around the 4/11 or 1/3 mark. Clearly they feel that this Crossmaglen team is cut from the same cloth as the Crossmaglen sides of the past fifteen years, where plenty of clubs were able to get close to them but precious few were able to beat them. However this flies in the face of results this year, as we will now show.

Crossmaglen have now played eight knockout championship games in 2011/12 – four in Armagh, three in Ulster and last Sunday against Dr Crokes. In the Armagh SFC semi final they beat Pearse Óg by four points, 0-13 to 0-9, which was a handicap draw with some firms and a handicap win for Pearse Óg with some others who gave the Armagh city club a five point start. In every one of their other seven games, Crossmaglen Rangers have covered the spread. What’s more, they were two point favourites against Ballinderry and Crokes, and won by three in each game – in the other five matches, they covered the spread with plenty to spare. This is a new, freescoring Crossmaglen team and either 1/4 is wrong or else the three point handicap is too short – and our early view is that the money will come for Cross minus three.

Garrycastle were worthy winners of the semi final in Pearse Park no doubt, but questions have to be asked of St Brigids and whether or not they really took their neighbours seriously enough. Twice they needed Garrycastle to go into a lead to be woken out of their torpor, and while they were able to reel in the Westmeath champions in the first half, they ran out of time second time around. A very poor third quarter where they conceded 1-3 and failed to score was their undoing and they will also look back on how they failed to take full advantage of their extra man, or how they left Dessie Dolan with the one marker for so long when he was clearly wreaking havoc.

None of that is meant to be interpreted as a slight on Garrycastle who deserve their place in the All Ireland decider, but they now need to step up and beat the best club side in Ireland – and while St Brigids might have slipped into a little bit of complacency, that is one mistake that Crossmaglen Rangers will not make.

To supporters in most parts of the country, the battle between St Brigids and Garrycastle is the less significant of the two All Ireland semi final battles taking place tomorrow, but to a lot of people within a fifteen mile radius of Athlone, it’s perhaps the most eagerly anticipated club contest since Garrycastle first played Athlone in the Westmeath senior championship after their acrimonious split in the 1980′s. These two clubs have been kings of their respective lands for a long time, but while St Brigids have been able to get through the Connacht championship on a few occasions, Garrycastle were never able to secure their provincial title before this year. Many supporters on the eastern banks of the Shannon put this down to the undoubtedly tougher challenge that is the Leinster championship and there is some reasonable thinking behind that theory, however it must also be acknowledged that St Brigids have competed well against elite opponents for the past few years, while Garrycastle often struggled against that higher class of opposition, even if they did rack up plenty of wins against more moderate teams.

This year, due to a combination of surprise results all across the province with heavyweights like Moorefield, Rhode and Kilmacud Crokes all failing to come out of their respective championships, what turned out to be a very kind draw left Garrycastle with as easy a run to the Leinster final as they could possibly have hoped for and so they gave themselves another shot at that elusive title. After a great first half  in the final against St Brigids of Dublin the Westmeath champions were hanging by a thread, but a late free was enough to get them over the line.

And what is the point of going over all this old ground, you may well ask? The point is simple – Garrycastle had rode their luck to get this far and tomorrow should, if logic prevails, represent the end of the road for the Westmeath club. There are other concerns as well – talismanic forward Dessie Dolan has been struggling with a flu all week and may not be fully fit for tomorrow’s game, while defensively Senan Kilbride could be too hot for John Gaffey to handle. The Garrycastle captain is a competitive player who is a fine performer at club level, but he has struggled to nail down a place in the Westmeath team and in Kilbride he faces one of the best forwards in Connacht. Even if he does play a very defensive game, Kilbride is capable of taking shots on the turn or laying the ball off to oncoming half forwards, a ploy that could easily result in a goal chance or two for players like Darren Dolan and Enda Sheehy.

However ultimately, our basis for believing that St Brigids are set to prevail is simple. The Roscommon champions proved against Corofin that they are capable of competing with top class opposition even when they aren’t playing particularly well. They certainly got a few lucky breaks that day but that result wasn’t out of character, and no-one was saying they were lucky when they beat Nemo Rangers and ran Crossmaglen close last year. Garrycastle might be better than the average winner of the Sligo or Leitrim championship, but Brigids have proved that they are entitled to be considered as one of the top half dozen clubs in Ireland by now, alongside teams like Nemo, Corofin, Kilmacud, Crokes and of course Crossmaglen. They should be 1/2 or 4/9 tomorrow, and it’s only the local derby factor that is preventing this – so bet accordingly.

St Brigids vs Garrycastle Recommendations

Match Betting: St Brigids @ 4/6 (Ladbrokes)

Anytime Goalscorer: Darren Dolan @ 8/1 (Boylesports)

Anytime Goalscorer: Enda Sheehy @ 17/2 (Powers)

It’s the age old conundrum in betting – a proven championship contender, with solid and dependable form at the grade in question, up against a newcomer from a reliable stable with some high class performances at a much lower level under their belts.Will it be the old dog for the hard road, or has the pretender got the talent to deliver a high class performance against a much tougher opponent than anything they’ve faced so far this year?

After a gruelling campaign to get through Dublin and a string of high class performances in Leinster, it’s no secret that St Brigids will bring a lot of high class footballing ability to O’Connor Park on Sunday afternoon. Their goalkeeper is one of the finest in the country with an ability to produce match winning saves, their defensive unit has been generally consistent and proved their worth when keeping a highly rated Kilmacud Crokes forward line to a mere eight points, and up front they have a good spread of scorers with at least four forwards capable of delivering three scores or more from play on any given day. Above all, they have an intercounty standard midfield with ball winning potential and box to box energy in equal measure.

Already St Brigids have beaten Crokes, St Oliver Plunketts and Portlaoise – three clubs all a significant cut above anything that Garrycastle had to deal with so far. Nonetheless this is Garrycastle under Anthony Cunningham who is a shrewd operator at the best of times, and for some of these players this will be their sixth foray into Leinster competition. Wins over Longford Slashers and Athy might not catch the eye in the same way that St Brigids did in taking out Portlaoise over eighty minutes, but the manner of both victories was very assured and it proved that this Garrycastle team are clearly well focussed on the job at hand this year. They too must be respected and they look for all the world like they have a bit more to show now that they really need to dig deep and produce the goods.

For the sake of both their county and their club, this success is long overdue. This will be the fifth time that a Westmeath club has competed in the Leinster senior club football final and the county is still waiting on their first ever success. Garrycastle as a club have enjoyed a long period of dominance at underage and then senior level in the Lake County and after coming into existence in 1981, the East Athlone side have gone from strength to strength. It took them twenty years to finally make the breakthrough at senior level but since then it’s been an incredible run of success with six of the last eleven Westmeath senior championships going to the club.

Now that club stalwarts like Dessie Dolan and David O’Shaughnessy are nearing the end of their careers, this Sunday’s final could represent one last chance for them to get a Leinster club medal to go with the Leinster county medals that they won under Páidí Ó’Sé in 2004. They will be hard pressed to contain the St Brigids forward line, but it would seem foolish to dismiss their chances out of hand since they are the type of team that could concede thirteen or fourteen scores and still win. Hills, Ladbrokes and Boyles all go 1/2 St Brigids to win the match while Stan James/Betpack are the bookmaker of choice for Garrycastle backers at 5/2. Many will side with prices of 4/1 or 9/2 about Garrycastle to win by the 1-3pt margin, however our narrow preference would be to stick with the match betting. While on paper it may look like a comfortable win for the Westmeath club is unlikely, O’Connor Park is a deceptively big pitch, with the same dimensions as Croke Park, and high scoring games are quite common there.

In a game where both forward lines are capable of scoring and the Garrycastle lineup is capable of getting goals, a slightly bigger margin is far from inconceivable and could be well worthy of consideration for value seekers.

In the spirit of “Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man”, it’s notable that it was Dessie Dolan who stepped up and delivered the crucial goal for his team against Athy. He has generally lined out at centre forward this year but it would be a huge surprise if Anthony Cunningham left him there to take on the marauding Seán Murray. It would do Garrycastle no favours to have their talismanic leader spend most of the game chasing back towards his own goal. Expect them to place Dolan in the full forward line, closer to goal, and to leave either a more physical or a more mobile player on Murray at the heart of the attack.

Leinster Club SFC Final Tips

St Brigids vs Garrycastle: Garrycastle @ 5/2 (Stan James/Betpack)

Winning Margin: Garrycastle by 4-6pts @ 11/1 (Powers)

First Goalscorer: Dessie Dolan @ 9/1 (Hills)

Unlike the race for the All Ireland club hurling championship, the winner of the Andy Merrigan cup next March will almost certainly be a heavyweight player on the club football scene. Five clubs remain in contention, one of which is representing the most successful club of all time in Gaelic Games, while St Brigids (Ros) and Dr Crokes have a good track record inside their province. Even the two remaining Leinster sides have oodles of intercounty talent and plenty of history competing well with some good teams, even if they haven’t achieved quite as much.

One obvious indication of the huge contrast is this – back in August, when these markets were first priced up by William Hill, none of the four clubs still in contention for the All Ireland hurling prize would have been less that 66/1. Only St Brigids of Dublin would have been close to that price for football honours, and that because they had such a tough road to travel coming out of the Dublin championship. Indeed Dr Crokes, St Brigids of Roscommon and Crossmaglen would have been in the two five or six clubs all along.

While all three of these teams have put provincial titles on the mantelpiece this past month, only Crossmaglen can truly say that they are playing at an elite level. The reigning All Ireland champions have cut a dash through a very tough provincial draw, taking out three top quality opponents in St Galls, Ballinderry and Burren. For Crokes and Brigids, only Mid Kerry and Corofin can compare in terms of the calibre of of opponent – and those victories owed a lot to soft goals and the refereeing of Liam Devanney respectively.

Right now Crossmaglen are playing at a level that is at least two or three points better than any of their rivals, suggesting that they should be no bigger than 2/5 outright in a semi-final or final against any of the remaining teams. Colm Cooper is undoubtedly an x-factor, while the Dublin champions are gathering momentum at a great rate, but none of these teams have the all round cohesion and efficiency of the South Armagh men, and if any forward in Ireland is close to the level of Colm Cooper right now in terms of both form and productivity, it’s Jamie Clarke.

Paddy Powers and Ladbrokes are both 5/4 about Crossmaglen outright at the moment and while that price would be on the fringe of correctness if we knew for sure that St Brigids of Dublin would be waiting in the final and playing well, it’s a one way bet right now because an All Ireland semi final win for the Rossies would indicate an outright price of even money now, while a final appearance for Garrycastle – probably a 6/1 shot right now – would suggest that 4/5 would be more appropriate. There is no circumstance, barring an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Armagh parish, that would see Crossmaglen’s outright prices to win the semi-final and final multiply out bigger than 5/4.

William Hill and Stan James are both ducking the Ulster champions right now and it’s hard to argue with their logic. Certainly for anyone out there with no existing position in the competition, the 5/4 is a very attractive price and one that should be added to your portfolio immediately.

After a somewhat inexplicable break for a week, the Leinster club football championship resumes this weekend with two hugely intriguing battles, one between potential All Ireland contenders and one between two clubs hoping to sneak into the Leinster final from the weaker side of the draw and maybe have a good day at the right time. We’ll look at the high profile battle between Portlaoise and St Brigids later in the week, but for now let’s take a look at the midlandds battle between Athy and Garrycastle, throwing in on Sunday in Newbridge.

Garrycastle were never longer than 6/4 to win the Westmeath championship at any time this year and after enjoying several good days in Leinster competition but still failing to get over the line, they know that they must be running out of chances to finally become the first ever club from the Lake County to win a Leinster senior club championship. While they’ve provided their fair share of players to Westmeath underage teams in recent years, they haven’t brought along any young players that look capable of replacing players like David O’Shaughnessy and Dessie Dolan, who must surely be running out of years of playing at senior club level. This year’s draw represented a golden opportunity to finally get over that line and now that the carrot of a local derby with St Brigids of Roscommon is on the table for the All Ireland semi-final, the sense of excitement in the club couldn’t be higher.

Of course motivation alone won’t bring about a battle between Dolan cousins, but while we might not be so optimistic at the Leinster final stage, for this week Off the Ground is happy to get behind the Athlone club at the 8/11 on offer from Powers. Paddy Power are a little bit out of line with this price as the other frontline bookmakers are all offering between 8/13 and 8/15 about a Garrycastle win and that extra return for our money is sufficient to warrant a bet. While Athy are a sharp, up and coming team with two good wins behind them, this is a huge step up in class and even in the familiar surroundings of St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge, Garrycastle should have the nous to pull themselves through this tie. Longford Slashers offered no threat and were clearly way off the boil after two months without a competitive tie, however a final tally of 4-11 still suggests that Garrycastle were in a good place and capable of taking advantage of a vulnerable opponent. Athy’s win over Old Leighlin was similarly impressive, but a more capable Edenderry team took them to the wire in the first round and illustrated that a defensive alignment, as Garrycastle are likely to bring, can cause frustration.

Oisín McConville sent a clear reminder last week that there is no substitute for experience and know how, just as Frankie Dolan did the week before, and on wet winter pitches when the younger players are dragged down to the slower pace of the older guys, they usually find themselves edged out by their cuter, wilier counterparts. Players like Tony Gibbons and Kevin Feely look to have a very bright future but Sunday could be a steep learning curve – when odds on first goalscorer are released later in the week, look for good prices on Dessie Dolan and in particular Paddy Mulvihill, who may still be in his twenties but has bagged a lot of crucial scores for his club and could be a real thorn in the side of the Athy defence this week.

Athy vs Garrycastle Tips:

Match Betting: Garrycastle @ 8/11 (Powers)

First Goalscorer: Paddy Mulvihill, if greater than 7/1 (any)

For those who might happen to be watching Garrycastle vs Portlaoise on TG4, currently standing at 0-7 to 0-3 at half time, the betting in running prices appear to offer a touch of value for those who can move quickly. The wind advantage blowing down O’Connor Park is very strong, and a four point lead is perhaps not even “level par” for the degree of advantage that is involved.

Factor in the red card to Peter McNulty, which will hit Portlaoise on two levels (leaving them a man down, and costing them an excellent runner who would play a big role into the wind) and this is a game where Garrycastle are in with every chance.

Portlaoise’s experience could potentially see them hold on and sneak over the line, but at 6/5, Garrycastle plus three points is worth punting. We won’t put it on the record since most people won’t get to read this in time, but if you do, then getting on is well advised.

Fewer games than might have been expected fell by the wayside last weekend, with three of the five games that had been arranged playing out to a conclusion. The Connacht decider was unsurprisingly called off relatively early, while in Portlaoise, referee Joe Curley was left with little choice but to bring matters to a premature conclusion when he saw the conditions that prevailed at the start of the second half.

Indeed for those who follow this blog and its recommendations, the Meath official’s decision was extremely welcome. Portlaoise had played with the advantage of a stiff but tricky breeze in the first half, and Clara were definitely the happier team going in at half time level pegging. Stephen Deehan’s point at the start of the second half was taken with the kind of relaxed kicking stroke that simply wasn’t an option in the first half, and with Thomas Deehan also playing extremely well in the inside line, Clara were definitely odds on to progress had the match played to a natural conclusion.

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