TG4 travel north this Sunday to Markievicz Park for the Sligo senior final this Sunday, a match where not many viewers outside the north west will be too familiar with many of the protagonists involved. Normally in this column we like to recommend a bet on the live game, but unless you are the Tourlestrane team doctor, this is one we'd recommend leaving alone. Tourlestrane have been cruising the whole way through the Sligo championship to this point and on paper the 4/5 with Ladbrokes seems like a fantastic price. However the West Sligo men have a debilitating injury list that looks very severe, even allowing for the great GAA tradition of on-the-day recoveries of supposedly unfit stars. If Eamon O'Hara is fit enough to line out, his fielding around the middle should give Gerry McGowan and co more than enough possession to win, but if not the advantage moves back to All Star nominee Ross Donovan and his men. As we mentioned, unless you are the team doctor with the inside track, no bet recommended here. However once again there is a mouth watering line up of games all across Ireland this weekend, and there are more than enough betting opportunities to keep us entertained. TG4's commitment to county finals is both understandable and admirable, though it is tinged with a little bit of regret that they don't branch out beyond that occasionally. The Irish language station has been a Godsend for GAA followers, but your writer is probably not the only one who wishes they could have just gone down the road this Sunday for what looks like a huge clash between Portumna and Athenry. We had a mixed success rate tipping outsiders last week, but Athenry at 9/4 are a side that make great appeal. Portumna are teeming with quality, led by the most well known player in Ireland that has not yet hurled senior for his county - Joe Canning. In terms of pure quality, the Tipp border boys might have the edge, but they've yet to be tested this year. On the other hand Athenry came through a fierce struggle with Loughrea in the county quarter final, and appear to have got back the competitive streak that won three All Ireland club titles for the club. Ladbrokes 9/4 is fine value about such a club, and may not last long! Having taken one underdog, we're now going to suggest three favoured midland teams in a treble to round off our punting for the week. First to Laois, where Portlaoise play Mountmellick under lights on Saturday night; Portlaoise are 1-4 to do the needful, and with all due respect to a Mountmellick team who have surprised everyone with their good run this year, they looked hopelessly mismatched against the 2005 All Ireland runners up. Portlaoise have real depth all over the park, and have Colm Parkinson available for selection again to bolster their already dangerous attack - expect them to advance with five or six points to spare. Secondly to Offaly, where Kilcormac/Killoughey meet Kinnitty in a replay of last week's drawn hurling semi final. Obviously one could ask the question why K/K are good enough to bet on this week at 1-2 when they weren't good enough to win last weekend, but this is a team that is slowly pulling itself together and improving with every game. In the quarter finals they were fortunate to get a draw with St. Rynagh's before winning with some panache in the replay, and it's reasonable to assume that they will progress from game to game here too. All bar one of the team is over 6" tall, and they will have learned from last week to use that advantage more against a Kinnitty team who are very dependant on two very small front men in Colm Coughlan and Odhran Kealey. Finally we'll stay in Offaly but switch codes, where Shamrocks look set to lift their first ever county title against Tullamore and are good value with Ladbrokes at 8/15 to do so. Tullamore have the tradition in the club, but on pure ability Shamrocks are way ahead. These sides met in the group stages and Shamrocks won by six points, and their demolition of Rhode in the semi final was a display that Tullamore would be incapable of handling, if it were to be repeated. PJ Ward may not have cut the ice at county level this summer but the Westmeath native has really sharpened up Shamrocks' attack since his transfer, and with the under-rated Leonard Mooney and minor star Nigel Dunne either side of him, they look to have too many weapons against a questionable Tullamore full back line and round off our treble nicely. Tweet

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