Crystal Cup runneth over
January 14th, 2011 by Kevin EganSo far, it’s been a strong 2011 for third level teams, most of which exceeded their expectations in the first round of the pre-season football competitions. No games took place in Ulster and the two colleges in Connacht faced off against each other so little could be ascertained in those provinces, however in Leinster there were good wins for DCU, UCD and DIT, with UCD winning at odds against and the other two colleges winning with a lot more to spare than was expected to be the case. Athlone IT let the side down spectacularly, but otherwise followers of college teams had a good start to their betting year.
In Munster neither UCC nor IT Tralee got off to the winning start that they had hoped for, but UCC could easily have got a win over Clare and were only one score off the pace in their tie, while IT Tralee put in a very good display against Kerry and proved that rumours of their re-emergence as a force have some foundation.
This week it’s the turn of the college hurling teams to prove their worth and Ladbrokes currently have prices on three of the games this weekend that feature third level institutions.
This rising tide for college teams was somewhat expected since the ongoing economic crisis in Ireland means that many GAA stars in their mid twenties have been unable to find work. For some, this has meant getting on a plane to Australia, Canada or New Zealand, but for others it has meant a return to education. As a result, most colleges have found a couple of strong hurlers to bolster their ranks who would normally be long past Fitzgibbon and Sigerson age.
That said, at least two of the three games offered by Ladbrokes appear to be priced as to take no chances with the colleges.
Cork IT against Kerry tomorrow is the kind of game that most bookies would be happy to take no bet on, however there is every chance that the Magic Sign will see some interest in their 12/5 about the Kingdom for this game. Kerry were probably the county that made the most improvement in 2010, and from a base where they would have been worried about relegation to the Nicky Rackard Cup, they will now be going into 2011 as leading contenders for the Christy Ring Cup, and in the long run a possible return to the Munster championship. They hurled well in this competition last year and were relatively unlucky to lose out to UL on a 3-15 to 1-15 scoreline. They competed for long stretches of that game, and that was against a UL team containing John Devane, Paddy Stapleton, Kieran Joyce, Dylan Hayden, Andrew Quinn, Seamus Hickey, Ryan O’Dwyer and Shane Dooley.
Kerry manager John Meyler is also in a very good position for this game as he is a lecturer in Cork IT who has been involved with their freshers teams, and thus he’ll know his opponents very well. Perhaps the most interesting aspect however is the fact that Cork IT also have a challenge match arranged against Oulart the Ballagh for Sunday. The word on the grapevine is that they will be using their first string players in the challenge game, and sending their second stringers down to Tralee. That may or may not turn out to be true, but even if it wasn’t, 12/5 about Kerry would be worth a small bet. Nonetheless it might be worth increasing the stakes ever so slightly just in case there turns out to be some substance to that rumour.
15/8 about NUIG is another price which on the surface might seem appealing, but in reality offers little or no value. NUIG have not given this competition too much attention in the past and bowed out meekly to Dublin last year. Offaly are also in the relatively happy position of having most of their first team available due to having relatively few college students in the panel. They limped past DIT at this stage last year, however that same Offaly team turned around and beat Kilkenny in the next round. They make return to traditional hurling country by hosting this game in Banagher and unless the students really dial up the intensity, this should be a home win.NUIG could win this if they focused their efforts on doing so, but there is no reason to believe that they will.
** Edit @ 2:20pm Friday: In a move that has surprised most observers in Offaly, Joe Dooley has taken a new tack and named an extremely young team for this game. It’s very possible that NUIG will still send down a weaker team, but some of the players that have been named for Offaly haven’t even played under 21 yet and unless NUIG really phone it in, it could be a very competitive. NUIG aren’t the kind of team to be trusted and Joe Dooley has all his heavyweight players available to call on from the bench, but expect the odds to close in before tomorrow afternoon.
Perhaps the most appealing students are those at the biggest price of all – Waterford IT, 3/1 with Ladbrokes to knock over All Ireland champions Tipperary. This Waterford IT team is solid but unspectacular and doesn’t have the star power that was within their lineup in some of the years gone by, however they are believed to be preparing quite well. Certainly the same could not be said for Tipperary, who only arrived back in from their team holiday earlier this week. Tipperary have no need to be competitive at this time of year and manager Declan Ryan will not worry too much about how his team performs in Clonmel. They could get through this hurling from memory alone and chances are WIT are just a little too lightweight to take full advantage, however there’s simply no sense taking any chances on the Premier men at the ludicrously short odds of 2/9.
Thaw facilitates delayed opening
January 16th, 2010 by Kevin EganGAA supporters suffering withdrawal symptoms are probably still looking out their windows and praying that the break in freezing conditions lasts for just a few more days so that the action can finally get underway, but realistically, the worst of the weather now appears to be past and it seems safe to say that most if not all counties will get their season underway this weekend.
Betting has recently been unveiled for most of this weekend’s games, and contained within those matches are a few potentially intriguing opportunities. As discussed earlier this week, the college teams have been getting better and better results in the preseason competitions, and with that in mind, UUJ are worth a closer look at 13/8 against Armagh.
Pondering Preseason
January 24th, 2009 by Kevin EganGAA 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.