Weekend GAA Predictions

Should be a good day’s action on Sunday. Some close games in store I would think. Predictions below :

Football :

Down vs Cavan = Down by 3
Galway vs Mayo = Mayo by 2
Louth vs Wicklow = Louth by 6
Meath vs Kildare = Meath by 3
Clare vs Waterford = Clare by 5
Cork vs Limerick = Limerick by 2
Fermanagh vs Tyrone = Tyrone by 5

Hurling :

Down vs Derry = Down by 3

well Derry only scraped by Armagh by a polnt last week so that would tell me they are not in the best of health. Down usually give Antrim most to think about in this province, hence i think Down will prevail

I am guessing that Derry will improve from last week whereas its Downs first run this summer.

Down vs Cavan = Cavan by 4 or 5. Consensus seems to be that Cavan had their chance and Down will win on home soil now. I disagree. Down are coming off the back of a brutal league and it was Cavan who were behind for most of last week. I can’t see them conceding three early goals again either and I think Pierson and Johnston up front will see them through.

Galway vs Mayo = Galway by 2. Mayo had the better league but Galway weren’t far off qualifying for the knock-out stages themselves. Galway have home advantage and I think that may tell, like it did for Mayo last year, especially if McDonald doesn’t play the full game. Think the Galway backs can suffocate Mayo and Joyce and Meehan to score enough to send Galway through for an annihilation of Leitrim.

Louth vs Wicklow = Louth by 2 or 3. I think Micklow have picked a decent enough team. I like their half back line especially with the O’hAnnaidh brothers - Breandan is back from working abroad for the game - and Leighton Glynn, who’s a magnificent player. Think they’re carrying too many players from midfield upwards though Earls is a dangerous forward. Basing the prediction on Louth’s early League form and their performances against Tyrone last year. Think they’re the stronger unit - but not by much.

Meath vs Kildare = Kildare by 3. Really hard to predict. Kildare had an excellent League, only losing to Donegal in a tight semi final. They’ve lost both their first choice midfielders for the season though, Killian Brennan and Dermot Earley, which is a huge blow for them. Meath won Division 2 but the only high quality side they played along the way, Wexford, completely dismantled them. They’re a mere shadow of the side they once were and I think Kildare’s overall strength, while relying primarily on Johnny Doyle for scores, will see them prevail.

Clare vs Waterford = Clare by 6 or 7. Neither had encouraging leagues and both are likely to be in the Tommy Murphy Cup before too long. Going purely on the Paidi factor here and Waterford have regressed badly since shocking Wexford in the first round of the League.

Cork vs Limerick = Cork by 5. Does anyone remember this game from last year? Think it was 10-6 to Cork in an incredibly poor game. Think it’ll be low scoring again as Limerick are a really grinding side who get bodies behind the ball but have little, if any, threat up front. Cork have Canty back after 10 months out and with Masters, Murphy and others there they should be too strong for Limerick.

Fermanagh vs Tyrone = Tyrone by 5. Fermanagh are another team that’s gone back since last year. Perhaps Charlie Mulgrew has stayed there a year too long? Relegated comfortably and a lot of dissension in the squad apparently. Tyrone are riddled with injuries but I don’t think that’ll count this weekend, although it more than likely will further down the line. Tommy McGuigan, brother of Brian, is making his first championship start at centre forward for Tyrone. Looking forward to this so I can admire Barry Owens, the best full back of this generation.

Hurling :

Down vs Derry = Down by 5 or 6. Like dancingbaby I’m going purely on the basis that Derry only scraped by Armagh last weekend and Down should be stronger than that. Wouldn’t consider betting on this game for a second though.

Johnston has been dropped

[quote=Bandage ]

Hope your right with the prediction and look forward to you putting your money where your mouth is regarding the semi final

Meant when he comes on as impact sub in the second half. :slight_smile:

Just stuck a tenner on my 7 football predictions at combined odds of 28/1.

Mayo, Down and Meath are all favourites so that’s why the odds are so high.

As an aside why are Meath favourites? They’ve done fook all in years. A number of us made a killing this time last year when Wexford were 4/1 to beat them even though there was never any doubt who’d win that game both before and during that game.

dont fancy your bet at all bandage but best of luck with it

as for Meath, they are a better team than last year. They were all over the place then. Had a few quid on wexford myself (though i didnt get anything like 4/1 - where do you bet !!!) Players and management werent getting alomg at all and its a year I’d say they were just prepared to write off.

They did well to win Division 2. Have a good backbone with Darren Fay at full back, Anthony Moyles centre half and Nigel Crawford in midfield. Also Brian Farrell had a very good end to the league campaign - he is named full forward but not convinced he will start there.

I think Brennan and Earley are huge losses for Kildare To be fair they did well to get as far in the league as they did but I saw their semi final against Donegal and to be honest a 3 point defeat flattered them a bit - they never looked like they were going to win it.

I think there is a feel good factor in Meath at the moment and take them to win a very close game to set up a Dublin - Meath clash.

I’m relying heavily on Kildare’s younger players. They’ve been strong in U-21 for the last few years and Moorefield won a Leinster club this year too. Now I’ve not a lot of these players in action but I’ve giving them the slight edge even though I accept too that Meath have improved a lot. Don’t think they’d trouble Dublin though. Wexford are playing Louth/Micklow before the Dublin vs Meath/Kildare game on June 9th so that’ll be a day to look forward too. Wexico were widely available at 4/1 last year - I recall psoting it on the old forum.

Fooking delighted for Paidi, a huge fooking ego and a clown to go with it. He says he’s not familiar with the name Tommy Murphy, well he’d better look him up now or fook off.

I’d say Johnno is fooked in Mayo next Thur, a disappointing display and some questionable decisions willl now doubt impact on his popularity at the ballot box.

Micklow and Louth drawing is bad news for Wexico, their opponents will have 2 games under the belt now before the June 3rd match. A great opportunity for the teams on that side of the draw, with Laois being the only team left to have contested a Leinster Final recently.

Kieran Shannon destroyed Paidi in The Tribune today. He had a load of insider information about the total shambles going on down in Clare since he took over so I’d say they’re preparing the ground to get rid of him - I’m sure he must be on significant ‘expenses’ down there. There was examples of him not turning up for training, leaving early, not even knowing some of the players after 5 months in charge, mixing lads up all the time, turning up at the wrong grounds for training, lads dropping off the panel all over the shop.

Waterford manager, John Kiely, was gas on The Sunday Game tonight. He goes, ‘We were well prepared today. Some of the lads are even doing weights now and a lot of them are farmers too so they’d be good at the physical stuff.’ Their first championship win in 19 years!

Yeah it was the same in Westmeath, didn’t read the trib yest but was living with a Westmeath panelist at the time. Apparently Paidi was an absolute joke, and the co chairmen even reprimanded him infront of the players. O’Flaharta did all of the training back then. Paidi only took an interest at championship stage. Regularly pissed in Mullingar aswell. A clown. Come on the deise!

Thought the GAA was mediocre yesterday. Galway were the far hungrier side in Salthill but still think the 7 point margin flattered them. If Mortimer’s goal chance at the start of the second half went in, it could have been a completely different game. Galway celebrated as if they had won the Connacht title and this was mentioned to John Maughan who was working on RTE Radio. He replied “Ah sure they have - there really is no point in ourselves, Sligo and Leitrim continuing this year” tongue firmly in cheek. I think it is set up for a perfect ambush job for Leitrim in Carrick assuming of course they get over London next Sunday.

Fermanagh vs Tyrone was very stop/start. Although it was close throughout you never really thought Fermanagh were going to win it. Watched the game with The Croppy who was cursing Cavlan throughout saying he was rubbish etc. Cue the last minute winner to leave egg on face !!

Only saw brief highlights of the matches in Croke Park last night but the brother was in there and he said Wicklow were far the better team in the opening game. Kicked some lovely scores and could have been out of sight by half time. Most people will believe that they have missed their chance but you never can tell with a Mick O’Dwyer trained outfit. The replay should be close again.

Good to have a Dublin vs Meath clash to look forward to. Whilst it may not capture the imagination as much as games in the 90s, there is still something special when these two come together. Meath kicked some lovely long range points yesterday. They only lost by 2 points to Dublin a couple of years ago and they look to have improved since then so a close game is in store on 3rd June.

Cork seemed to have it easy enough against Limerick and Waterfords victory over Clare was good to see. A first Championship win since 1988 - fair play to them.

I can’t see London pushing Galway to be honest, db.

I read a couple of the paper reports on the Mayo - Galway game and they all say that Galway advance to a Connacht semi final against Leitrim. I hate this kind of rubbish. It’s insulting to the London players and management staff and puts extra pressure on Leitrim. I’m sure Des Dolan will be urging his players to forget about Galway - there is a job to do in Ruislip first

Next Sunday is going to be very tricky for Leitrim and if they come out of it with a 1 point win, I’ll be delighted.

Well said DB

Farmer, I am assuming RTE Tv or radio will as usual give fuck all coverage to London vs Leitrim so I suggest you log onto leitrimgaa.ie on Sunday from 3.00

It updates the score every minute. I used it a couple of times for the league games and it is an excellent service.

Was thinking last night that it could be a good thing that the league game between the sides was so close because Leitrim are forewarned now. The confidence is growing !!!

After events in Salthill on Sunday, I really think this is Leitrim’s best chance of a provincial title since 94. They are 16/1 in Paddy Power’s. There are definitely worse 16/1 shots out there.

Wait a second now.

You’re not actually going to the game? Christ db, when you support a team that generally only gets 2 championship games a year (provincial followed by qualifier defeats) then would you not be anxious to attend these games?

Munster and Leinster hurling championships swing into action this weekend, heres a few snippets of information from hoganstand website…

CLARE v CORK
They meet for the third successive year in the Guinness SHC and for the 7th time in ten years. Cork are seeking their fifth successive win over Clare who last beat the Rebels in the 1998 Munster semi-final. The counties have met on 44 occasions in the championship with Cork leading 30-11 while there have been three draws, the last of which was in 1969. Interestingly, their last two championship meetings (2005 All-Ireland semi-final and 2006 Munster semi-final) failed to produce a goal.

CLARE v CORK - POINTS OF INTEREST
*Cork are seeking their fifth successive championship victory over Clare, having won in 1999-2003-2005-2006. Prior to that Clare had beaten Cork four times in a row in 1993-95-97-98.

*The last time Cork lost their opening Munster championship tie was in 2002 when they were beaten by a point by Waterford. Clare havent won their opening game since 2003 when they beat Tipperary. They lost to Waterford, Tipperary and Cork over the past three seasons.

  • Cork beat Clare by 0-20 to 0-14 in last years Munster semi-final in Thurles. Cork scorers were: Joe Deane 0-9, Jerry OConnor 0-4, Tom Kenny 0-2, Brian Corcoran 0-2, Neil Ronan 0-1, Niall McCarthy 0-1, Ronan Curran 0-1. Clare scorers were: Niall Gilligan 0-6, Tony Carmody 0-3, Barry Nugent 0-2, Daithi OConnell 0-1, Alan Markham 0-1, Jonathon Clancy 0-1.

*Clare have played 45 championship games over the past ten seasons, winning 24, drawing 5, losing 15 while one (v Offaly 1998 All-Ireland semi-final replay) was unfinished. Cork have played 37 championship games in ten years, winning 27, drawing 1 and losing 9.

*Cork and Clare met in the National Hurling League on April 2 last with Cork winning by 1-13 to 0-14. Cork topped Division 1A with four wins from five games prior to losing to Waterford in the semi-final. Clare finished 4th in 1B after winning two, losing two and drawing one of their five games.

*Next Sundays winners will play Waterford in the Munster semi-final on June 17.

OFFALY v LAOIS
Offaly are seeking their 13th successive Leinster championship win over Laois, who recorded their last victory over their neighbours in 1972. The counties have clashed 50 times in the championship, with Offaly leading 29-17 while there has been four draws.

They met last year in a game which was ruined by the appalling weather conditions. Offaly won by 2-12 to 0-8 prior to losing to Wexford in the Leinster semi-final.

Offaly were relegated to Division 2 of the League after winning two, drawing one and losing two of their five games in Division 1A which forced them into a relegation play-off with Limerick which they lost by 6-20 to 1-18 . Laois won the Division 2 title and then played Limerick for a place in Division 1 but were beaten by 3-15 to 1-13

OFFALY v LAOIS - POINTS OF INTEREST
*Offaly have played 42 championship games in the last ten years, winning 21, drawing 1 and losing 19 with one (v Clare 1998 All-Ireland semi-final replay) unfinished. Laois have played 34 games, winning 15, drawing 2 and losing 17.
*Despite winning the All-Ireland title in 1998, it is 13 years since Offaly last won the Leinster title. Laois havent won the title for 58 years (1949).
*Laois scored an average of 1-13 in their four championship games last year but conceded an average of 2-18.
*Offaly scored an average of 1-14 in their five championship games last year and conceded an average of 2-12.
*Next Sundays winners will play Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final on June 10.

It would be great if the hurling championship could be ignited early doors this year with some exciting and

competitive games.