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September 21, 2007
The footballers of Kerry and hurlers of Kilkenny might be taking some well earned rest after their medals have been secured in the last few weeks, but for the club players of Ireland the medals are pretty much still all there to play for. This weekend sees a huge number of games take place all across the country and betting is available on pretty much every senior championship match right now on Ladbrokes.com and on 1800 777 888.
As always, your tipster would always recommend that you keep a close eye out for whatever is going on in your own county as there's no substitute for local knowledge, but even so a couple of the games are big enough to warrant the interest of supporters of any county persuasion and we're going to look at a few of these and pick out some potential winners and great value prices.
The Clare hurling championship has been slow enough to gather momentum this summer, but finally the shadow boxing is over and a couple of plum quarter final ties lie in wait this weekend. The meeting of 2005 champions Clarecastle and 2006 kingpins Wolfe Tones looks certain to throw up the market leader at semi final stage, with the Magpies possibly looking good to dethrone the Lohans and co. at odds of 10/11, but instead we're going to recommend Kilmaley at 8/11 to knock off Sixmilebridge in the first game of that double header. Niall Gilligan has been scoring freely for the Bridge, but with Alan Markham and Conor McMahon among the options in Kilmaley's ranks to try and curtail him and Anthony Cahill lording the square should Gilly go in full forward, it's hard to see Niall having it his own way for 60 minutes. He should go through fallow periods, and with Diarmuid McMahon and Conor Neylon both in fine scoring form Kilmaley should make hay during these spells and eventually come through with four or five to spare.
Heading due north, those who like their hurling full blooded will want to be in Athenry on Sunday evening when the home town lads take on Loughrea. Loughrea are of course reigning Galway champions and All Ireland finalists from last spring, but even so we can't resist Athenry at 11/10 to progress.
One thing Ger Loughnane did at the helm of the Galway county team was to bring Eugene Cloonan back into the fold. Whether Eugene ever got back to intercounty standard fitness remains up for debate, but what is for certain is that he is now as fit as he has been for some time - and at club level he's ready to dominate games. Loughrea will not go down without a fight, but the lack of scoring support for Johnny Maher could cost the men in blue on Sunday evening.
Switching codes, Breffni Park is our next stop where Mullahoran make great appeal at 7/4 to take out Gowna and keep their hopes of a championship repeat alive. It's unusual to see reigning champions such big outsiders in a semi final, but it's not without some cause. Wexford intercounty boss Paul Bealin had been at the helm for Mullahoran, but he sensationally departed two weeks ago, leaving clubman Damien Reilly and Meath legend Tommy Dowd to try and pick up the pieces of what hitherto had been a very ordinary campaign. Under the new management Mullahoran showed signs of getting back to their old ways in their quarter final win over Kingscourt, and if they can improve by another couple of points, they won't be far away from setting up a tantalising county final with Cavan Gaels.
Rounding matters off with a bet in Leinster, the only province so far untouched, we're going to suggest Skryne as good value at 10/11 to beat Simonstown Gaels in the Meath quarter final on Sunday evening. Meath football lost a lot of big names over the last few years but still played with the pride and spirit associated with the county in their run to the All Ireland semi final this summer. Not many of those Meath players would have been on the shortlist for All Star awards when the championship kicked off in May, but the lack of stars was no barrier to the Colm Coyle's men. It's on a similar basis we want to be with Trevor Giles' charges this weekend. Simonstown have the star names with men like Seamus Kenny and Hank Traynor in their ranks, not to mention injury doubt Shane O'Rourke, but Skryne have put together some big wins over some fancied teams in this championship so far, most notably beating both of last year's finalists, Wolfe Tones and Navan O'Mahony's. With that momentum, plus no little amount of know-how from the 1999 footballer of the year, they can give a happy ending to our wagering for the weekend.
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