Portlaoise supporters and indeed most of the team will still have bleak memories of the last time they travelled to Parnell Park when they overcame an early red card for Zach Tuohy to stay in contention for three quarters of their game against St Vincents, only to collapse in the closing stages and end the match eleven points in arrears.

Anyone looking at the formlines of the two teams taking part in tomorrow’s Leinster club football semi final could be forgiven for thinking that a similar outcome was a distinct possibility, simply because the Laois champions have been hugely underwhelming since coming out of Laois for the fifth time in a row this year. St Brigid’s, in contrast, have been in scintillating form, putting Meath champions Summerhill to the sword with ease and overcoming the handicap of the concession of three first half goals against Horeswood, including one resulting from an uncharacteristic error from goalkeeper Shane Supple.

After his heroics in the Dublin championship, the least Supple deserved was to have his team-mates bail him out of trouble in that instance and the Blanchardstown club did exactly that, running up an incredible total of 1-20 against the Wexford champions, an incredible total in an hour of November football. That they bailed out out handicap recommendation of minus six in the process was a nice bonus! Indeed 1-20 would be an impressive total even if it happened in Croke Park in July over seventy minutes of play, so the Dublin champions certainly took a significant step towards dispelling the notion that their presence at this stage of the championship is almost exclusively down to their defensive prowess.

However despite all this, Portlaoise are not the sort of team that we dismiss lightly. They are, after all, the most successful club in Leinster competition and their players are well used to taking part at this time of year. They’ve struggled to get the most out of their very potent inside forward line so far this year and their decision to play Paul Cahillane as a roving player just in front of the midfield seems like an odd decision when he is by far the biggest threat for goal in the team, even if his passing from that sector has been sublime. However the return of Colm Parkinson to the fold has added a bit more potency in front of goal and Craig Rogers, club captain this year, rounds off a full forward line that would be competitive at county level, never mind in a club championship.

Where Portlaoise should struggle to compete however is at midfield. The Laois county champions haven’t had a strong, dominant middle man for nearly a decade now and the news that Adrian Kelly is battling injury certainly doesn’t bode well. Native Laois man John O’Loughlin will be relishing this challenge and there is a real danger that he and Barry Cahill will run all over his Portlaoise midfield, just as Louth midfielder Paddy Keenan did for St Patricks earlier in this Leinster campaign.

Portlaoise had the upper hand in enough battles around the rest of the field to overcome that handicap against St Patricks – it’s unlikely that they will be able to defy the odds as easily in Parnell Park.

If Portlaoise do fall behind in this fixture, they are unlikely to panic since they have the experience to know that they’ve come back from deficits before, however one of their possible tactical switches in that situation would be to move Brian “Bruno” McCormack to full forward, where he would lend a little physicality to the exchanges at the edge of the square. If Portlaoise are forced to bypass the centre of midfield and use the flanks a lot, this becomes even more likely since too much running and handpassing down the wings would give time for the Brigids midfielders and half forwards to funnel back and clog up the space in front of goal. An occasional high ball would be required in this situation and that’s where McCormack comes in.

Ladbrokes go 16/1 about McCormack to score the first or last goal, and while that would be a fair price if he spent the full game at centre forward, the very real possibility of a switch into the edge of the square makes this a very attractive bet.

St Brigids vs Portlaoise Tips:

Match Betting: St Brigids @ 4/5 (Hills)

Last Goalscorer: Brian McCormack 16/1 (Ladbrokes)

The return of Intercounty football may be a few months away yet, but this weekend’s televised clash between Portlaoise and Kilmacud Crokes will feature more than enough top class talent to come very close to the real thing. The vagaries of the draw this year have given us two mouthwatering club clashes in two weeks, though Crossmaglen’s excellence last week took from the competitiveness of their tie with St Galls. Still, it’s a strange football fan who wouldn’t have enjoyed watching the Armagh champions exert their power last Sunday.

Portlaoise and Kilmacud Crokes would be similarly respected in a Leinster context and on paper, it’s difficult to separate these two heavyweight contenders this weekend. Between them they’ve won four of the last six Leinster titles, and both clubs are packed with talent to the point that the absence of top class players and former All star nominees like Aidan Fennelly and Paul Griffin hasn’t been a barrier to domestic success.

Portlaoise looked to be in unstoppable form as the Laois championship progressed and the concession of a combined total of 2-3 in their semi final and quarter final matches suggested that their showdown with Arles Kilcruise was likely to be a little bit one sided. This turned out to be anything but the case and it took a late goal from Paul Cahillane to sneak a 1-8 to 0-8 victory against the Carlow border club. However any notions of a dip in form were blown away by their 2-11 to 0-14 win in a very high class first round win over Moorefield of Kildare.

If Portlaoise hadn’t come through that difficult tie, it would be easy to see why Kilmacud would be favourites here, but with the reigning Leinster champions having proven themselves to be very definitely in form, there is simply no excuse for 5/4 being available about a home win. Zach Tuohy’s return from Australia has given them another very potent attacking weapon, they have a very cohesive and tough defence built around two outstanding central players in Cahir Healy and Tipperary’s Hugh Coghlan and while they may concede a little ground to Crokes around the middle of the field, they are used to using O’Moore Park’s wide expanses to minimise any deficit in that area. However even in that regard, news of a potential injury to Niall Corkery would greatly diminish Crokes’ perceived advantage in that sector.

A quick look at Kilmacud’s teamsheet serves as an easy reminder as to why the Stillorgan club are so well fancied in provincial competition, but a lot of their star names don’t perform with any real consistency. In the last four rounds of the Dublin senior championship, Brian Kavanagh was the only Crokes forward who scored more than a single point in more than one of those games. Barry O’Rorke kicked 0-4 in the semi final, Mark Vaughan scored 1-2 in the final while Pat Burke and Ray Cosgrove each scored 0-3 against St Sylvesters, but none of these players were able to repeat that form. Kavanagh will have a real tough test against Cahir Healy and if the Longford man can be closed down, Crokes could be in real trouble here.

Of course Kilmacud have to be respected and by no stretch of the imagination would a win for the Dublin champions be a shock, but their valuation as 4/5 favourites away from home against a team with a good Leinster championship win under their belts reeks of the bookmakers getting a little bit of glitter in their eyes from looking at their teamsheet. Portlaoise are well capable of securing a result here, and at 10/11 plus one point on the handicap betting, they make even more appeal. This column would suggest a 3pt bet at that price, with the additional proviso to add two further points to the stake if the rumours on Hill16.ie about Ross O’Carroll not making it home turn out to be true.

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.

(more…)

Last week, we advised a bet on over 1.5 goals in the meeting of Portlaoise and Clara, and we were on course for a payout with one goal scored by half way before the sadly necessary intervention of referee Joe Curley ensured that refunded stakes was the outcome.

That bet was advised last week on the basis that both of these teams are capable of scoring goals, and having been in attendance for the 35 minutes of football that was played, this bet should definitely be re-struck this week, as both sides demonstrated their ability to get in and create goal chances, even in atrocious conditions.

(more…)

As we look out our collective windows and wave at our neighbours rowing past, happily adapting to the nation’s new status as the next Atlantis, it may seem to many people as if it’s slightly pointless to get involved in betting on any of the weekend’s games. Such has been the level of rainfall that unless fixtures get moved to neutral venues on continental Europe, the strong likelihood is that most of the ties arranged for this weekend will fall by the wayside. Every one of the ties are taking place in either the west, south or midlands, with no action going ahead in the east or north-east, which has escaped the worst of the conditions.

(more…)

As the rain continues to pour down, it’s safe to say that a lot of shrewd bettors will be looking for big handicaps this weekend, hoping to pick out games where covering a large spread will be very difficult in mucky, wintry conditions. However looking at the lines on offer this week, it appears that the bookmakers are making allowances for this, and as a result, punters should tread warily before piling into the outsiders with three and four point head starts. They are already paying a premium for the weather in the prices on offer, and trying to find value after incorporating that premium won’t be easy.

(more…)

As we discussed last week, provincial and All Ireland club honours are very hard to win at the best of times, and usually impossible to secure if clubs don’t serve an apprenticeship of sorts. In almost every instance, teams need to by win their club championship on a couple of occasions and learn the art of inter-county club competition before any silverware comes their way. In an All Ireland context, that still leaves plenty of contenders at this time of year, but at provincial level, there can be some excellent betting opportunities as a result, with many candidates simply not viable winners.

There are some caveats to this rule to be borne in mind all the same. De la Salle came from nowhere last year, but the important point was that their first game was against a similarly inexperienced outfit, and their narrow win over Sarsfields suddenly left them in a Munster decider. If a new team can get a run going, then they can often cause a shock, but without that launching pad, they have little or no hope.

(more…)

Irish people could be forgiven for getting confused in recent years. Summers used to mean July and August, but it appears that the calendars have been adjusted, and May, June, September and October have become the best months of the year, weather-wise. Traditionally county championships that dragged on into October used to mean finals being played on soft pitches with a nip in the air, but due to the peculiarities of the Irish climate, the club players rather than the county men seem to be getting the best of the conditions.

(more…)

• 1Eamon talks about Man City & Mancini, Kenny Dalglish, Ireland's Euro......
• 2Friday 5-a-Day......
• 3Thursday 5-a-Day......
• 4StarBets.ie tipsters in the money again......
• 5Fantasy GAA update......

• 

  Eamon talks about Man City & Mancini, Kenny......

  PLAY VIDEO
• 

  Eamon Dunphy gives his views on Ireland's prospects......

  PLAY VIDEO