Posts Tagged ‘Louth’
Louth and Meath contest the Leinster Senior Football this afternoon at Croke Park where there is a 2 o’clock throw in. These neighbouring counties along the River Boyne make for an unusual pairing in a competition which has been dominated by Dublin in recent years – however it would seem there is a changing of the guard in the eastern province and its the Royal County of Meath who are red hot favourites today at odds of 2/9. It’s 4/1 a Louth win in 70 minutes and we offer 9/1 about a draw.
Punters looking to our handicap will see a 5 point spread with Meath Even money to cover it, Louth are 10/11 with the 5 point start and its 10/1 a handicap tie – that’s Meath to win be exactly five points.
Joe Sheridan has lit up the Leinster championship this year with his goalscoring and he can be backed at 7/1 to score the opening goal today, or 9/4 to raise the green flag anytime during the game. He heads up the goalscoring markets alongside fellow Meath forward Shane O’Rourke, Stephen Bray and Cian Ward.
But its certainly not all about Meath today, you’d be hard pressed to find a better midfield pairing in the country at the moment than Louths duo of Brian White and Paddy Keenan. These two players will win plenty of ball, create chances and they are also well capable of taking scores too. Brian White is Louth’s expert from placed balls and we have pitched his points total at 3 and a half. You can take 8/11 that White scores 4 or more points throughout the game or evens that he goes under 4.
It’s sure to be a special day for Louth in particular and us bookies will certainly be cheering the underdog along in this provincial final, join us for in-play markets throughout the game.
My heart says Louth, my head and my bank manager say Holland. Okay, so it’s not a World Cup final that Louth are contesting on Sunday, but it sure as hell feels like it.
The Dutch may think that 1978 is a long time ago. Well, it’s not half as long ago as 1960. Actually, it is. Mathematically it is. About two-thirds as long ago, really. But I remember 1978, I remember the van de Kerkhof brothers and Johnny Rep and wondering why Johan Cruijff wasn’t playing (everybody was Johan Cruijff when we played in the field behind Peggy Burke’s house), and I remember Mario Kempes scoring through the ticker tape.
I don’t remember the 1960 Leinster final, unsurprisingly given that I was still a decade off existence, but there was always plenty of talk about the 1957 and the 1960 Louth teams when I was growing up. It always seemed like such a long time ago. And we’d traipse our way to Croke Park for the first round of the Leinster championship every year, against Offaly, against Carlow, we’d traipse in much hope and in little expectation, we’d buy our tissue paper red and white hats every year (they never lasted beyond July), we’d take our places in the Hogan Stand after a ham sandwich and a cup of tea in the canteen with the stand-up tables, where our grandfather would invariably succeed in getting us into the VIP area with the cushioned seats, we’d shout for Louth until our young lungs hurt, and we’d return home thinking at least the minors won.
My uncle used to back Louth to win the Leinster every year. He’d come home from the dogs on the Saturday night before the first round and he’d say he was on at 25/1, sometimes 33/1, and he would proceed to recite the draw. If they can only beat Carlow, then they meet the Westmeath camogie team, and then they’re into the semi-final against the Meath under-21s, and if they beat them then they’re in the final, or something. I think he backed them for the Leinster every year since 1960. Every year until this year, that is.
In fairness to him, he did ring me before the Kildare match and point out that the draw was in their favour this year again, that this could be the year, that they always have a chance against Kildare, whatever it is about Kildare, much more so than they do against Meath or Dublin, and that if they could manage to get over the Lilywhites, they had the winners of Westmeath and Wicklow in the semi-final. He wasn’t backing them this year though, he was going to put the mockers on them, it would be enough for him if they did well. And he rang me the day after they beat Westmeath. Turns out, it wasn’t.
You have to fear for them against Meath on Sunday, they are probably legitimate 9/2 shots, although spirits are high, and it is a final, so you just never know. That’s what the Dutch are saying as well, although Paul the octopus apparently chose Spain, so that’s not good. A friend told me yesterday not to worry about getting home from Croke Park in time to watch the World Cup final, that I’ll probably be leaving with about 15 minutes to go anyway.
He’s a Dub. I’m still thinking of a retort.
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.
Despite following hot on the heels of round one and the first genuine results of the season, the second round of the National Football League can often be full of pitfalls for those looking at form to guide their betting strategy. For example, last year in the first round of the league, Armagh travelled to Wexford and scored 4-16 in Wexford Park, while Laois got hammered at home to Kildare, 0-16 to 1-8. But in round 2, Laois travelled up to Armagh and came away with a three point win, scuppering a lot of favourite backers in the process. Also in round one, Limerick travelled to Louth and put in an atrocious performance, losing by almost treble scores, while Roscommon demolished Offaly in Kiltoom, albeit an Offaly team riddled with dissention under Richie Connor. In Round two, Limerick turned over the Sheepstealers, completely making a mockery of this form.
GAA dressing rooms in January are an odd environment, a distant cousin to the tense and energised setting that one finds in the summer. For every enthusiastic teenager with energy to burn and a point to prove, there’s a grizzled veteran in his early thirties who has been through it all before and knows well that the summer is a long way away yet. For every local lad who’s been pounding the roads over Christmas making sure that any traces of turkey have long been burnt away, there’s yet another lad who’s been burning sambucas deep into the night without a thought towards the calorific content in the glass, or even the crisp weather and mucky pitches that lie in waiting, ready to severely punish any such flamboyancy of lifestyle.
