Don’t see a thread set up for this yet outside of the main GAA betting thread which I will still be updating.
New structure this year with 2 up/down means Division 1A should have a good bit of competitiveness compared to other years.
Teams will probably need 5/6 points to guarantee safety.
Opening round fixtures are:
Wexford (+7) v Cork in Wexford Saturday
Galway (-2) v Tipp in Salthill
Clare (-1) v KK in Ennis
Limerick have a bye
Wexford down a good few bodies hence why they have went out to +7 in round 1. Conor Macdonald is injured & Chin is away.
Cork looked very sharp in that challenge game v UCC. Traditionally they don’t target the league but this year may be different.
Tipp have played a raft of challenge games in recent weeks with a variety of teams, there most high profile was a loss to a fiery Dublin last Saturday in Fethard.
Cahill is going to give game time to u20 players like Darragh McCarthy & Sam O Farrell for sure during the league. O Farrell is the most complete player of the 2022 minor team, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play championship.
Elsewhere there’s huge voids to fill for Tipp and the public are beginning to doubt some of Tipperary’s insistence to play such a style with the players we have. A good league will be to avoid relegation.
Galway are also a bit of an unknown, they have a good record at home so will be targeting this win as it could decide relegation. I actually expected more retirements/droppings over the Xmas so it will be interesting to see what team O Donoghue conjures up. Young players like Kileen/McGlynn etc need to be pushing on.
Clare are down a few bodies apparently for their opener to KK at the weekend. You’d imagine they will be slightly behind the cats fitness wise thus far. I think they may be slightly vulnerable this weekend and in the early rounds so may be just happy to survive after a long year last year. Sean Rynne & Jack O Neill 2 players I like that should add to their side.
KK kicked the shit out of Offaly last week, they’d a good u20 team last year that underachieved so you’d expect players like Harry Shine and Eoin Lyng to push on.
Limerick down a few bodies early on so you might see a mix of experience and experimentation.
My own prediction for the 7 would be:
Cork v Limerick final
3 KK
4 Galway
5 Tipp
Clare & Wexford relegated.
On the 1B, I’d say Waterford and Dublin will be content enough to be building from this position.
Waterford have a good few injuries and Lyons is some loss for the season. I expect them to stutter to a league final v Dublin.
Dublin are at home to Antrim in week 1 in Parnell which could decide the top 2, the Davy bounce might be harder to find as Gleeson had them going well. Conal Cunning is out for the league at least and McManus would be better served performing on the pitch than his guru backroom gig.
I can’t see anything but a Dublin win after being impressed with them last week v Tipp even if the na fianna lads will be given the week off.
Looking forward to it now. Will throw up my usual selections on the betting thread later in the week when teams are announced.