As we discussed in our column earlier today, the provincial football championships all begin in earnest this weekend, with five teams poised to exit the race for their respective provincial titles on Sunday, barring draws. The Sunday Game cameras will travel to Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon to take in the meeting of the Rossies and Galway in the Connacht quarter final, however there are good betting opportunities all across Ireland, starting at Navan, where Westmeath look well poised to break a run of defeats against Louth.

Westmeath vs Louth

Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick probably wishes he could play Westmeath every week. In four games against the Lake County, he has guided Louth to four wins, three in the league and one in the 2010 Leinster championship.  Louth also won the last meeting between these two counties before Fitzpatrick took over – a 1-12 to 0-7 victory in the 2007 National League – but previously this was actually a fixture that Westmeath dominated, with seven wins in succession between 2001 and 2006. This column’s suspicion is that the tide could be turning back in Westmeath’s favour, after the Lazarus act that saved their place in Division 2.

Both sides are entitled to be very proud of their achievements in salvaging Division 2 status – both counties were odds on to make the drop – but Westmeath should be a little bit stronger on Sunday than they were in the league, while key absentees from the Louth team should leave them a weaker side than they were in the Spring. John Gaffey, Doran Harte and James Dolan are all selected to start on Sunday having spent most of the Spring playing football in the green and red of Garrycastle instead of the maroon colours of Westmeath, while Eoin O’Connor, Eamon McAuley and Shane Lennon all miss out due to injury on the Louth side.

As if that weren’t enough, Brian White, Brian Donnelly, James Califf and Cathal Bellew have all decided to emigrate to the US for the summer, while regular full back Dessie Finnegan will miss the game as he will be on his honeymoon. Needless to say not all of the eight players listed above would start, but if they were all available, they would possibly fill as many as four of the spinal positions on the team. Louth simply don’t have the depth to justify favouritism with so many gaps in central positions and so Westmeath represent great value.

Longford vs Laois

This is a fascinating game on so many levels. Longford are brimming with confidence, they will play in front of a home crowd, they play a wonderful fast, attacking brand of football and they are looking forward with enthusiasm to this Leinster campaign and in particular the chance to settle a score with Laois, after they came so close to beating them last year. Laois in contrast are riddled with self-doubt, struggling to find form and unsure of their identity. However while both these teams will play division 2 football in 2013, there were two divisions between them this year and this is still the same Laois team that beat both Armagh and Donegal and gave Dublin a tough contest.

For all the reasons listed above, Longford are a very “lovable” county at the moment. They’re the type of plucky underdog that neutrals love, but that can sometimes lead to fundamental flaws being overlooked. For example they are not strong ball winners at midfield, and the swashbuckling, attacking style of their forward division can sometimes leave the defence exposed. However Laois haven’t improved from Spring to Summer for a while now and they aren’t worthy of trust at odds on.

What we can believe in is the likelihood of a high scoring game, Longford’s very way of playing ensures it. Last year Laois played very defensive football but that didn’t really work out for them and Justin McNulty has reverted to a more attacking style this year. Boylesports have pitched their total points mark at 27.5 – on a good playing surface like Pearse Park and in front of a partisan home crowd, we’re confident that number will be surpassed.

Cavan vs Donegal

This is one of those predictions that more experienced GAA pundits don’t usually make, because it can come back to haunt you in the white heat of championship. However we’re going to go ahead and do it anyway, even if it does risk making us look foolish. Donegal should win this with plenty to spare.

Cavan should experience a certain bounce under Terry Hyland and they have some good young footballers to call upon, but they are a world away from where Donegal are in their preparations right now. One of these teams is an All Ireland contender, the other is a team that would be playing division 4 football in 2013 but for the fact that they miraculously found two teams worse than them this year in the third tier. Donegal’s defensive style is the only thing that has this handicap so low, and frankly if it were a six point handicap instead of a three, this columnist would still fancy Donegal to cover, that’s how bad Cavan are.

Limerick vs Waterford

Waterford haven’t beaten anyone other than Clare in the Munster football championship in nearly a quarter of a century.

We give that line a paragraph all to itself so we can allow the magnitude of that statement to sink in. No matter what issues Limerick may have had this year, they still should be better than Waterford, who continue to struggle. If this game were taking place in Fraher Field we might have some belief in the possibility of an upset, but even allowing for the somewhat uncharacteristically free scoring 1-18 to 1-14 win for Waterford when these two counties met in the league, we’d prefer to go for a lower stakes, higher return bet this week than backing the underdogs, who look to be up against it.

So we’re going to pick two players for a first goalscorer bet. First we’ll go with Mark Ferncombe, who scored four goals for Waterford in the league while no other player raised more than a single green flag, and we’re also going to side with Seamus O’Carroll for Limerick. The big full forward is one of the players who should relish the opportunity to go for balls dropping into the square and while he’s been praised highly for his achievements playing handball in recent weeks, he’s also a very accomplished footballer and one who will be a real threat to the Waterford goal this Sunday.

Roscommon vs Galway

If Roscommon manager Des Newton can go into championship battle without feeling the need to start a single member of an under-21 panel that reached the All Ireland final, then clearly he believes that either (a) Roscommon have serious strength in depth, or (b) the under-21′s weren’t that good after all. As with all things, it’s probably a little bit of both.

Galway football this year has given the impression of being very, very close to hitting the mark. Alan Mulholland has imposed a style and pattern to the county’s play and eliminated a lot of the individuality that plagued the Tribesmen in recent years. He now has a young, strong panel who are working hard for each other and if Michael Meehan is in fact close to making a return as is rumoured, then this could yet turn out to be a good summer for Galway. The problem is that they have always shown a genuine disinterest in the qualifiers and in order to avoid that minefield, they need to get out of Dr Hyde Park intact. This could prove tricky, and while this column remains of the view that there are parallels between Roscommon football and the emporor with no clothes, there’s nothing to be gained by punting the Galway at 8/15. Instead, we’ll again play the square ball rule change and side with another big full forward to net the first goal – in this case Paul Conroy of St James and Galway.

Match Betting Recommendations

Louth vs Westmeath: Westmeath to win @ 5/4 (Bet365, Skybet)

Longford vs Laois: Over 27.5 total points @ 5/6 (Boylesports)

Cavan vs Donegal: Donegal -3pts @ 5/6 (Boylesports, Bet365)

Limerick vs Waterford: Seamus O’Carroll @ 7/1 and Mark Ferncombe @ 8/1 to score the first goal. (Ladbrokes)

Roscommon vs Galway: Paul Conroy to score the first goal @ 7/1 (general)

Concluding our series of report cards, we now take a look at the second tier of the National Hurling League, featuring five teams with managers facing into their first championship at the helm of their current team. Indeed for four of the five bosses in question, it will be their first ever championship as an intercounty manager.

Clare – B

The Banner County deservedly topped the Division 1B class and yet again, David Fitzgerald is proving that a very astute hurling brain lies beneath his ferociously competitive and tempestuous exterior. Granted he’s got plenty of raw material to work with in Clare at the moment as some of the best young hurlers in Ireland are natives of the county, but they ticked every box over the course of the league. They produced a stunning display to blow Limerick out of the water in week one, they safely negotiated banana skin fixtures against Antrim and Laois, they hurled Wexford off the park without getting out of second gear, they beat Offaly in Tullamore with a reserve team and they came back from a large deficit in the 1B final against Limerick. It was disappointing that they failed to produce something different to unsettle Kilkenny a little in the league semi final, but generally things are moving well in Clare and they look like real Munster championship contenders right now, particularly with Tipperary struggling to find form.

Limerick – D

They huffed and puffed about dubious decisions in their drawn game against Offaly, but really they should have had the Faithful County long put away before then. They’ve made no real progress since last year and there are too many positions on the spine of their team still up for grabs, way more than should be the case with a manager in his second year. They have great potential and should be relishing the prospect of a Munster championship clash with Tipp, but too many of their new discoveries from last year seem to be suffering from a “sophomore slump” for that to be a realistic betting prospect at the moment.

Offaly – D

Offaly are comfortable hurling at division 1B level but will look back at all three of their games against decent opposition with some level of regret. They absolutely hurled Wexford off the park in round 2 of the campaign before inexplicably conceding three late goals and losing out by a point, they went out of the game for long spells against Limerick and still got a draw and had plenty of chances to beat Clare in Tullamore. Still, they actually have more depth in the panel than has been the case for a long time and with players like David Kenny and Rory Hanniffy fit, they actually have plenty of real leaders in the team. They will be better than they were in 2011, but time will tell how much better.

Wexford – E

We could try and paint a positive picture here, but there would be no justification for doing so. They deservedly lost to Antrim, they showed plenty of character but little hurling in their win over Offaly and nothing that we’ve seen so far suggests that Liam Dunne has a clear plan in terms of where he’s going with the team and what way he wants them to play. Winning a Leinster championship seems as far away as ever and while it’s now been twelve years since they lost to Offaly in the championship, that day looks to be closer than ever.

Antrim – B

Jerry Wallace should actually be really happy with how his side performed this Spring. Playing without the Loughgiel hurlers for the vast, vast majority of the campaign, they beat Wexford, put Offaly under real pressure in Tullamore and produced a great comeback when they needed it against Laois. They actually look to be in a good place in advance of this championship and could pull off a surprise somewhere this summer.

Laois – E

The optimism that pervaded Laois hurling in January has long since dissipated and Teddy McCarthy must be wondering what he has signed on for in trying to sort out the dysfunctional midlanders. They hurled well for small patches against Offaly and Wexford and for maybe half the game in Casement Park against Antrim, but they need to do a lot more. Right now they must be dreading their Leinster championship battle with Carlow, and rightly so.

Roscommon two years ago proved that coming out of division four does not necessarily preclude championship success in the summer, however nobody would argue that playing in the basement division is ideal preparation for the championship. Contenders for provincial titles are few and far between among the bottom nine teams, however any county can give us a winner on any given day – so here’s our assessment of how the division 4 counties fared in the Spring, with a view towards the championship and the various match and outright betting opportunities that will arise.

Wicklow – B

After years of loitering in this division under the guidance of Mick O’Dwyer, Harry Murphy finally worked the oracle and secured promotion for the Garden County. Arguably this was a more significant achievement than anything Mick O’Dwyer managed to do since Wicklow need to start measuring themselves against better teams. There are still deficiencies in the team – defensively they concede a lot of scores – but they’ll bring a lot of confidence into their first round battle against Meath and must surely be hopeful of what would be a famous victory.

Fermanagh – C

This grade might seem harsh after Fermanagh topped the division over the round robin stage, but as we pointed out at the start of the year, Fermanagh were handed a ridiculously kind schedule where nearly every contender had to travel to Enniskillen. Seamus Quigley led the attack throughout the year but he was unable to cope with the pace of the league final and that hardly bodes well for an Ulster championship meeting with Down. They did what they had to do, but clearly they still have a long way to go and the fact that they crumbled against Wicklow suggests that they could be looking at a quick two and out this summer.

Clare – B

Yet another near miss to add to the collection, but in contrast to Fermanagh, they can feel very hard done by in terms of fixtures. They lost two games to their main rivals, both playing competitively, and both away from home. If just one of those matches took place in Ennis it’s eminently possible that they would have secured promotion. Even though it feels like deja vu, Clare should feel like they’re making progress and that they are in a better place than twelve months ago. A Munster final place is theirs for the taking if they can further improve in the next few weeks.

Limerick – D

For a team with so many good players, failing to even make a good attempt at getting out of the basement league simply wasn’t good enough. Maurice Horan did well in the championship last year, reaching a quarter final in Croke Park, but Limerick faced a lot of crunch games in this league and failed to produce in any of them. Right now they look very vulnerable in the poor half of the Munster Championship draw and the provincial final place that they were expected to claim might not be a formality any longer.

Leitrim – C

As we would expect from any Leitrim football team, they were competitive throughout the campaign but losing by one score in their opening league match at home to Limerick left them too much to do and despite playing some hard football throughout the spring, they never looked like mounting a promotion challenge. Their Connacht championship prognosis is no better, and while they will beat London, all that will do is ensure that when they do go into the qualifiers after losing to Mayo they will face a team that has already won a game. There aren’t too many teams Leitrim can beat in that situation.

Waterford – C

They won away from home against both Wicklow and Limerick and those results alone warrant a decent grade. For the rest of the campaign they were very poor – they never rediscovered the defensive resilience that they had in 2011 and always seemed to leave themselves too much to do up front. Along with Clare and Limerick they will fancy their chances of reaching a Munster final, but they are in the weakest position of the three right now.

Carlow – E

They lost to Leitrim at home in the first game and were always likely to struggle from then on. They did well to beat Waterford in Fraher Field but they remain hugely dependent on Brendan Murphy and it’s impossible to imagine how poor they would be without the former Aussie Rules player. In several of their games they weren’t just beaten, they were outclassed and that shouldn’t be happening to any county making a genuine effort in division four. The only thing in their favour is that Wicklow have a great chance of beating Meath and Carlow will always fancy their chances against Wicklow. However if Meath pull themselves together in time it will be a short summer for the Dolmen county.

London – E

The false dawn of 2011 has passed and until the “Seanie Johnston” rule is resolved, they look like nailed on certainties to lose both their Connacht championship and their qualifier fixtures by large margins. Even if they are allowed play their guys who return home to play with Irish clubs, they still look to have taken several steps backwards.

Kilkenny – NG

From a betting point of view, Kilkenny footballers are no longer relevant. From a general footballing point of view, anyone in Kilkenny who doesn’t see the problem with what’s happening down there is misunderstanding the ethos of the GAA, and no amount of deflecting the issue by talking about Cavan or Monaghan hurling will change that.

The weekend is barely underway but already plenty of people will have picked their first winner – but nobody will have got rich backing the Offaly minors at 1/250 against Kilkenny. The favourites are generally popular however and the money continues to come in for both Kerry and Cork in advance of the National Football League semi finals in Croke Park tomorrow. Elsewhere there are more minor games and club action is on offer in Tipperary, Wexford and Meath. Here’s our round up with a couple more good value bets.

Kildangan vs Moneygall

Though Barack Obama showed some nice touches with a hurl when he visited Ireland and his ancestral home of Moneygall last year, he didn’t catch the eye of the local team management and that’s despite the fact that Moneygall would be one of the poorest teams in the Tipperary SHC. They started with a very lack lustre performance, losing by ten points to Borris-Ileigh, while Kildangan battled to a good draw with Roscrea. Indeed many observers felt they won the game by a point, even though the referee counted it as a draw. This was despite Darragh Egan’s absence and even though winning a North title might be beyond them, Kildangan look much stronger than Moneygall here.

Louth vs Westmeath

Five of the six first round clashes in the Leinster Minor Football championship look pretty clear cut, but today’s clash at Haggardstown is the exception according to the bookmakers. Louth look decent if unspectacular at this level, while Westmeath have looked forward to this generation for the past two or three years after this group enjoyed a lot of success at development competitions. Their decision to recruit Tommy Carr for the manager’s post was a controversial one to say the least and the jury is out on whether or not that has worked after a very disappointing league campaign. Nonetheless they have got a few good forwards back in since then including Ger Leech of Coralstown/Kinnegad, and Lorcan Dolan from Castledaly. These players were unavailable for long stretches due to their commitment to their schools but they should give the Lake County that touch of class here and help them pull through the challenge of Louth.

Limerick vs Cork

Limerick have a truly shocking record at minor level despite having plenty of patches of real football country out west, and this minor team selection bears that out with the vast majority coming from the footballing heartlands of the county. Odd though it may seem, this isn’t always the case in the Treeaty County. Cork should be very strong as always and manager Ephie Fitzgerald is a very astute judge who is quite highly rated, but Tom McGlinchey has done a lot of work with this Limerick team and they will be very fit, very mobile and with a few seriously sharp threats playing on the wings. Cork should be favourites but Paddy Powers are overdoing it offering 7/1 about a home win here. Keep the stakes small, but at minor level that price is rarely justified.

Final Betting Recommendations

Tipperary SHC: Kildangan to beat Moneygall @ 8/15 (Powers)

Leinster MFC: Westmeath to beat Louth @ 4/5 (Hills)

Munster MFC: Limerick to beat Cork @ 7/1 (Powers)

Clare once again make the short trip down to Limerick to meet their near neighbours in what will be the fourth meeting between these two sides this year and the sixth such fixture since the start of 2011. A clash with Kilkenny in the National Hurling League semi final is the prize on offer for the winner, though securing 1A hurling in 2013 will also be high on the agenda. Also we’ll have a quick look at one of the more eye catching team announcements, and cast our eye over the two schools matches taking place at Croke Park later today.

Limerick vs Clare

Traditional GAA wisdom would suggest that Clare would be hard pressed to beat Limerick again after handing them a fourteen point hiding in the first round of the league. Certainly Limerick have improved since then and they looked very sharp at times last weekend in Casement Park, but Clare are operating at a higher level, as evidenced by the fact that they were able to beat Offaly in second gear last week. Now Offaly were a little unlucky in that fixture, but David Fitzgerland can recall players like Nicky O’Connell, Pat Donnellan and Conor McGrath for tonight which should be enough to eliminate the risk of any lethargy or torpor carrying over into this week.

Both these sides have been scoring goals this year and in a league where scoring generally has been high, it’s surprising that Ladbrokes have dropped their totals line back down to 42.5, a more traditional league number. Our suspicion is that Clare hold the edge, albeit maybe not enough of an edge to justify a bet at odds on prices, and that Ladbrokes’ total line will be exceeded.

Longford vs Wexford

Wexford manager Jason Ryan is clearly keeping his powder dry for the National League final between these two counties and has named a very different team for this meaningless end of season fixture. The Model County were scoring really well throughout the league but Ryan has named a completely revamped full forward line, albeit with Ciarán Lyng playing at centre forward pulling the strings. Meanwhile Graeme Molloy is the only anchor in the first four jerseys, with new faces at 1, 2 and 4. Most bookmakers have reacted to this selection but BetVictor have yet to do so. If the 5/4 about Longford is still there by the time you read this, take it.

Holy Trinity Cookstown vs Gallen CS

In the interests of full disclosure, yours truly is a former student of Gallen (back when it was known as St Sarans) so there is no point even pretending to be neutral here. This columnist will be at Croke Park, utterly offending all the other Press Box attendees who expect decorum and neutrality in that environment. Hard luck folks!

These two sides met in a wonderful All Ireland semi final last year in Ballyconnell and Gallen came through on that occasion on a 2-13 to 1-14 scoreline, a result that was just about merited. Both sides have plenty of players returning from last year including a fair few of their star names, but crucially, Gallen don’t have anything like the same level of depth and so they have to call on a lot of players that will be playing under-16 football later this summer.

That said, they have Croke Park experience, they have lots of natural scorers and in a game where it’s genuinely impossible to pick a clear favourite, 2/1 from Boylesports is simply incorrect. HTC have the better results so far and teams like Ballybay and Clonakilty were a lot stronger than anything Gallen met, but the Offaly school have yet to win by any less than eight points and they can’t be blamed for the lack of opposition en route to Dublin.

St Marys Edenderry vs St Michaels Enniskillen

This year’s Hogan Cup final brings together two schools that have shown incredible defensive prowess so far this year, and this column is a little disappointed that a bet on total points hasn’t been offered, since it’s very possibly that this game could be won by a team that has only scored nine or ten times. Enniskillen have made quite a habit of edging tight battles and they’ve won six of their seven games so far by either a point or two – and while Edenderry have opened up more frequently, they still don’t have a single outstanding forward capable of taking an opposition team apart. Ger Leech of Coralstown/Kinnegad in Westmeath is probably their main man, but they also get plenty of attacking production from their all-Kildare midfield pairing of Daniel Grehan and Daniel Flynn.

Crucial to this fixture will be the battle between Eddie Courtney at the centre of the Enniskillen attack and Philip Foy, 2011 Offaly minor captain, who usually lines out at centre back. Foy was given the job of marking St Jarlaths danger man Shane Walsh in the All Ireland semi-final and he did that really well – a repeat of that performance would be a huge step in the right direction for St Marys. On the basis that St Mary’s have more threats, they can edge this one, provided they bear in mind the lessons learned on their last trip to Croke Park, when a last minute goal from Coláiste na Sceilge cost them an All Ireland in 2009.

Betting Recommendations

Limerick vs Clare: Total points over 42.5 @ 8/11 (Ladbrokes)

Longford vs Wexford: Longford @ 5/4 (BetVictor)

Holy Trinity vs Gallen CS: Gallen @ 2/1 (Boylesports)

St Marys vs St Michaels: St Mary’s by 1-3 points @ 12/5 (Powers)

Division 1B of the National Hurling League is a little bit more clearcut than 1A, with first place already resolved and the hurlers of Wexford and Laois likely to be much more interested in the relegation match between the two than the meaningless dead rubber taking place in the South East this week. Thus, we’ll leave that game aside from our betting previews, since only Liam Dunne and Teddy McCarthy know what they have planned for the morning of this game – pre match training is very possible here.

Offaly vs Clare

Earlier today we previewed Waterford vs Dublin and came to the conclusion that it makes no sense to be backing a team with nothing to play for. That’s also exactly the situation here. Offaly realistically need a win to reach the division 1B final, though a draw would do if Limerick failed to win in Belfast, while Clare have already booked their place in that playoff fixture. Now no member of the Clare panel or management team would be caught dead saying this, but many hurling people in the Banner county would be happier to meet Offaly in the final having learned something from this game than to have to take on a resurgent Limerick with a bee in their bonnet after the round robin match between the two sides. David Fitzgerald would never think that way, but human nature is a peculiar thing and it’s hard to compete aggressively when you don’t know if you want the prize.

Offaly will be motivated, but they’ve been something of an enigma throughout this league campaign. They’ve played some excellent hurling in patches, but they’ve been very poor at other times and they were very fortunate to come away from Limerick with a draw, even leaving aside Cathal McAllister’s controversial decision to award that penalty at the end. Nonetheless they are at home, they have a powerful forward line that should be capable of winning ball and even money plus one point from Bet365 is very attractive.

Antrim vs Limerick

Suddenly, due to their late comeback against Laois, Antrim have a League final place to play for in front of their home fans and while they’ll need a favour from Clare to get into the 1B decider, they aren’t without hope here. However Limerick are slowly getting back to full strength with Shane Dowling making his return this week and they will be stung by the manner of their draw with Offaly. They need to win by thirteen points more than Offaly do if they don’t get a favour from their neighbours across the Shannon and while that’s probably asking too much, if they step on the gas early, they can give it quite a rattle. Antrim have been good so far this year but they failed to step up to the next level against Offaly or Clare and while they are at home here, they don’t have a good record against Limerick with no wins in their last 16 attempts.

Division 1B Recommendations

Offaly vs Clare: Offaly + 1pt @ evens (Bet365)

Antrim vs Limerick: Limerick to win by 7-9pts @ 5/1 (Ladbrokes)

Strange though it may sound, for some counties this weekend will be their second last competitive game before the championship gets underway in the summer. Whatever your views about the restructuring of the national hurling league, that in itself is something that probably needs to be addressed. However this column’s remit is not the welfare of the GAA but picking some winners. We’ll start our search at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Cork vs Kilkenny

Cork’s revival under Jimmy Barry Murphy hit a stumbling block last weekend when Galway came away from Páirc Uí Chaoimh with both points. Suddenly the Rebels are faced with having to take at least one win out of their last two league games against Kilkenny and Tipperary in order to reach the semi finals of the league and a bright start has lost a lot of sheen. Up front the team has found a nice balance and the pace of Cathal Naughton and Conor Lehane on the wings has added a new dimension to the team’s hurling. However student Darren Sweetnam and Lorcan McLoughlin are very inexperienced to be taking on Michael Rice and Michael Fennelly at midfield and there is a danger that Cork could get overwhelmed both here and at half back. Brian Cody takes great satisfaction in victories over the poster children for “player power” and while this could be another high scoring encounter with Cork scoring well themselves, we’ll take the Cats to prevail and cover the spread.

Dublin vs Tipperary

Dublin have actually hurled well for two weeks now but haven’t gotten any rewards and this was going to be our strongest tip of the week – before it was reported that Paul Ryan will almost certainly miss the fixture due to injury. Dublin’s corner forward is a crucial source of points and while he’s out, and David O’Callaghan is still performing some way below his best in the other corner, it’s impossible to back the Dubs with confidence. No recommendation here.

Galway vs Waterford

Nicky Cashin’s decision to step aside as selector at a time when things aren’t going that well for the Déise suggests that cracks may be appearing in the set up. The county board are also reportedly unhappy with the very large squad that’s being carried at the moment and this week they make the long trek to Pearse Stadium to play Galway, who are beginning to find their rhythm. The return of John Mullane and Eoin Kelly to the panel is a boost from the point of view of Waterford’s summer prospectss, but neither man is likely to be ready to start this week and all their presence on the bench will do is cause more nerves among the starters, who know that the management will have itchy fingers waiting to spring their big name players.

After more very pleasant weather in Galway, the pitch in Salthill is in good shape and the breeze is actually quite calm – these conditions suggest good scoring, and there is a real danger Galway could go to town on Waterford here.

Limerick vs Offaly

Shane Dowling returns to the Limerick starting line up for tomorrow night’s crucial battle between these two promotion hopefuls in division 1B but in truth it’s not the Limerick forward division that needed help, it’s their porous back line. Similarly Offaly have been scoring well but they conceded 18 scores to each of Antrim and Laois, suggesting that they too need work at tightening things up at the back. This should be a high scoring tie under lights at the Gaelic Grounds, and we’d be slow to presume that the favourites should prevail, since Offaly have won the last three competitive matches between these two sides. Paddy Power go 7/4 about a winning margin of between five and nine points, while they’re 10/11 about four or less. Only one of the nine games in this division so far, and 17 out of 47 games in the NHL as a whole, have fallen into that bracket. Take the 7/4, either side has the potential to win this well.

Antrim vs Laois

Antrim are still likely to be missing their Loughgiel players, but they are hurling quite well without their Shamrocks’ contingent and they should have too much for the midlanders at home. Nonetheless we don’t like trusting Antrim at odds on, so this is another game we’ll skip over.

Clare vs Wexford

It’s looking now like Wexford’s late comeback win over Offaly simply papered over the cracks in the Model county. David Fitzgerald has his side moving really well and they can secure their place in the Division 1b final with a win here. They should get it, and cover the handicap too.

NHL Round 4 Recommendations

Cork vs Kilkenny: Kilkenny -3pts @ 10/11 (Boylesports)

Galway vs Waterford: Galway by 13-15 pts @ 10/1 (Ladbrokes)

Limerick vs Offaly: Winning margin of 5-9 pts @ 7/4 (Powers)

Clare vs Wexford: Clare -4pts @ 5/6 (Hills, Bet365)

Six more games take place in the top flight of the National Hurling League, with results now becoming much more important in such a short season. Our previews start at Nowlan Park, where Dublin are faced with the task of halting Kilkenny’s seemingly unstoppable momentum.

Kilkenny vs Dublin

Dublin were much improved at Croke Park last week and probably deserved a share of the spoils against Cork. However they didn’t get the run of the ball and now the most likely scenario is that their battle with Waterford will determine who makes the drop. All that said, when a team is clearly on the up and they’ll want to lay down a marker before meeting in the Leinster championship, they have to be respected, so we don’t oppose Dublin lightly. This is not the sort of game to be investing heavily in a handicap bet at even money. Take Ladbrokes’ 4/1 about a 7-9 point winning margin for the Cats, since as Waterford will testify, right now it’s possible to play well and still go down badly to them.If it doesn’t happen, we’ve only lost small stakes.

Tipperary vs Waterford

Nothing about the betting for this match makes sense. With the exception of an horrendous fifteen minute spell against Cork, Waterford have actually been middling to decent in this league campaign. Both sides got well beaten by Kilkenny, while Tipp’s home win over Galway was nothing that would instil fear in opponents. Both sides are missing their frontline attackers and on that basis it makes no sense to be expecting Tipperary to run away with this. Waterford have been given a seven point start by a couple of bookmakers and that’s well worth exploiting.

Cork vs Galway

In terms of giving us a clearer picture of how these two teams are fixed, this is unquestionably the most intriguing game of the weekend, for the purposes of marking our card for the summer. Both sides should be targeting this fixture for a meaningful win and it will illustrate if Anthony Cunningham has to go back to the drawing board and look for some more senior players, or if we just saw a false dawn from the Cork men in the first two rounds. It’ll be a great game to watch but not necessarily great for betting purposes. Our suggestion is taking Paudie O’Sullivan to score a goal at any time, priced at 5/2 with Ladbrokes. Tipperary played a short passing approach against Galway, finding their men with twenty and thirty yard stick passes, yet the Galway men looked very vulnerable when a big man fielded and ran at the full back line, as happened for Tipp’s first goal. O’Sullivan will certainly do that and this Cork team are well tuned in to giving him the chances to do so.

Laois vs Clare

After showing great promise, Laois have been hugely disappointing in this league campaign. They beat Clare in this fixture last year but just can’t be trusted now. No bet.

Limerick vs Wexford

If the final whistle had gone five minutes earlier in Wexford Park last week, Offaly would have won at a canter, the local papers in Wexford would be talking about a crisis in the county and Limerick would be 2/7 this week. The fact that Liam Dunne has performed such extensive surgery on the team suggests that he knows that things still aren’t quite right. Hills and Powers go 4/7 about an away win here and while Wexford will have a spring in their step, chances are five minutes of madness are masking real problems in the Model County. Limerick are not without flaws of their own but they do seem to have a lot more of the pieces of the puzzle in place.

Offaly vs Antrim

Offaly showed both their potential and their vulnerability last week in Wexford. They need this result to stave off a relegation playoff and should get it, but the handicap makes no real appeal on either side.

National Hurling League Round 3 Recommendations

Kilkenny vs Dublin: Kilkenny to win by 7-9 points @ 4/1 (Ladbrokes)

Tipperary vs Waterford: Waterford +7 pts @ 10/11 (Powers, Bet365)

Cork vs Galway: Paudie O’Sullivan anytime goalscorer @ 5/2 (Ladbrokes)

Wexford vs Limerick: Limerick to win @ 4/7 (Powers, Hills)

With five new managers starting their league season in this division containing only six teams, this years second tier of the National Hurling League has the potential to throw up more than a few surprises. Two Cork men, two Clare men and one staunch Wexford man taking charge of his own are the new men trying to guide Antrim, Clare, Wexford, Laois and Offaly through this campaign, while John Allen remains in charge of Limerick, who start the season as the clear antepost favourites to top the group.

Limerick vs Clare

Allen may only be at the helm of the Treaty County for a little over a year but this will still be his fifth Shannonside derby and his third in the National Hurling League. Limerick’s two wins against Clare in this competition seemed significant last year, but the reorganisation of the League’s structure rendered them redundant. This year the two Munster counties are the favourites to top the division and if they win all other games this fixture will be redundant too, but Limerick will be looking down the card of games and with trips to Portlaoise, Wexford and Belfast all to come, they could find themselves in a very tricky situation if they don’t get off to a strong start.

Allen has named a comparitively strong team with David Breen and Shane Dowling from county and Munster champions Na Piarsaigh stepping into the half forward line. They, along with Declan Hannon of Adare, form a line that is capable of running up a very decent total and against a Clare team that is still very unsettled with manager David Fitzgerald trying out a lot of players, that looks like sufficient cause to throw our weight behind the home team here.

Antrim vs Wexford

Wexford can thank their lucky stars that Loughgiel Shamrocks advanced in the All Ireland club semi finals a fortnight ago because if new Antrim manager Jerry Wallis had a full hand to pick from here, Wexford would be facing a very, very tough battle. Even as it is, it’s easy to see why William Hill are leading the market at 1/3 and trying to draw in money about the visitors – they simply don’t have enough in form players. Nonetheless that lack of depth might be enough to help Wexford limp over the line. No bet makes any appeal here.

Offaly vs Laois

In the last decade, these sides have played each other four times in the championship – and Offaly won all four battles by an average margin of fourteen points. They’ve also played each other four times in the National Hurling League in that time – and the score there stands at two wins each, with three of the four matches decided by a single point. This might not engage the national media like the other big local battles taking place this weekend in Cork, Limerick and Kilkenny, but it has the potential to be a very keenly contested match and any win for the home side, even by another one point margin, will represent very good form against a Laois side that is rejuvenated under Teddy McCarthy. Laois to win the tie at 7/2 is an attractive bet and those looking for a big priced wager could do a lot worse, however we’ll play it slightly more conservatively and take the four point start that is available.

NHL Division 1B Recommendations

Limerick vs Clare: Limerick @ 4/5 (Ladbrokes, Bet365)

Offaly vs Laois: Laois +4pts @ 11/10 (Ladbrokes)

The GAA might pride itself on being an all-inclusive organisation, but a quick look at the media coverage for national league games will tell you where their interests really lie. Expect full page spreads on the big battles in division one, plenty of coverage of Mickey Harte and Kieran McGeeney as they attempt to drag their respective teams out of division two, while everyone else fights for the scraps from the Masters’ table!

However here at Starbets, we’re nothing if not pragmatic. A 2/1 winner in a division four basement battle watched by five men, three maor uisce and a dog is just as good as a 2/1 winner at Croke Park or Páirc Uí Chaoimh, so here now is our preview for the first week of division 3 and division 4 action.

Antrim vs Sligo

These two counties have become joined at the hip in recent years and this will be their eighth meeting since 2006 in the league, meaning that they have met each other more often than any other pairing in that time. Whether it’s promotion or relegation, neither county likes to do anything without the other and as such it’s no surprise that the bookies are finding it hard to split them in advance of tonight’s battle at Casement Park. Boylesports make the home side their ever-so-slight favourites, while Hills give the most tentative of nods to the visitors from the North West, but every other layer is right on the fence, offering even money each of two. Initially we were inclined towards sharing the view held by Hills, but the news that David Kelly doesn’t start was enough for us to recant. The Tubbercurry forward has been in fantastic form for DCU so far this season and while we think that Sligo might be able to get a good result without him, unless you’re in Casement Park and you see his distinctive red hair bobbing into the corner for the throw in, this is a no bet game.

London vs Fermanagh

The odds of 1/7 and 1/8 about a Fermanagh win might seem odd in the light of the most recent result between these two teams, but there is no contrast between the Fermanagh team of 2011 and the 2012 version under the tutelege of Peter Canavan. If there was a handicap bet to be had, we’d be suggesting that Fermanagh would cover, but there isn’t, so our hands remain in our pockets for this one too.

Clare vs Waterford

Not many football supporters from north of the Suir river will realise quite how talented the two O’Gorman brothers are, and how much of a blow their defection to the hurling panel is to John Kiely and his selectors. There still are some fine footballers in this Waterford team and they can certainly consider themselves unlucky to have made the drop last year after three of their five league defeats were by a goal or less, but Clare looked decent in preseason competition. Home advantage is worth a couple of points, while the availability of the Kilmurry-Ibrickane players is worth a few more.

Kilkenny vs Wicklow

Kilkenny’s forfeiture against Louth in the O’Byrne Cup could easily turn out to be their best result of the year. Wicklow to win by as much as they like, not that this is any use to us.

Leitrim vs Limerick

Limerick will feel very hard done by to be playing division four football and they now share with Roscommon the remarkable record of having reached an All Ireland quarter final one year only to play basement league football the year after. And no game more typifies division four than a trip to Páirc Séan MacDiarmada to play Leitrim. There is no glamour or glory to be had, but anything less than complete and total commitment will see you coming home empty handed. Limerick to win, but not without a fight.

Longford vs Offaly

The few bits of 8/11 about Longford that were floating around earlier in the week have disappeared a long time ago and now 4/7 is the best that can be had about a home win here. It’s easy to see why those prices were taken – Longford are much further on in their development while Offaly are going into battle without their standout player in Niall McNamee. Longford should win with a bit over a goal to spare.

Roscommon vs Tipperary

Tipperary bring a very strong, seasoned outfit up to Kiltoom for this fixture and against a Roscommon team shorn of their St Brigids players, they will be expected to come home with the points. However it may not turn out to be that simple against a Roscommon team with plenty of scoring still in their team. Logic dictates that the 11/8 from Hills about an away win is the way to go, but we’re going to stay on the fence in this one in terms of the result.

However these are two good goalscoring sides and neither is either team particularly convincing in the full back line. Ladbrokes are offering 3/1 about over 2.5 goals in this game and that’s a decent shout here.

Wexford vs Cavan

Our antepost tip for the division faces what should be their toughest fixture of the entire campaign when they travel to Wexford Park to take on the antepost favourites for this extremely competitive division. Here at Starbets we were all set to recommend Cavan as a live outsider for this fixture, but that was at a time when we expected them to be offered at something around 3/1. 2/1 doesn’t appeal nearly as much and instead the best play is to stick with Cavan on the outright market. Even if they lose here they still have a great chance, while a win will see their outright price slashed right into 7/2 or 4/1.

Division 3 and Division 4 recommendations

Clare vs Waterford: Clare @ 4/5 (Bet365, Boylesports, Powers, Hills)

Leitrim vs Limerick: Limerick to win by 1-3 pts @ 13/5 (Powers)

Longford vs Offaly: Longford -1 pt @ 10/11 (Bet365)

Roscommon vs Tipperary: Over 2.5 goals @ 3/1 (Ladbrokes)

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