by Kevin Egan of PaddyPower BookmakersNot unlike Rocky Balboa in one of his movies, reigning Limerick football champions Monaleen sustained a flurry of blows in the first three rounds of fixtures this year, but they showed incredible resilience to keep their hopes of a knockout slot alive against St Senans and this weekend the entire county will be watching to see if either Ballylanders or Newcastlewest can finally deliver that telling blow midway through the movie, or whether we’re going to go into the business end of the championship with the sound of “Eye of the Tiger” faintly echoing across in the background.
Newcastlewest were moving well early in the year but they ran against Ballylanders and suddenly questions are again being asked of their character. Paddy Powers are 8/13 about a win for Monaleen this week and that’s probably a good bet now that the Castletroy club have the bit between their teeth. The problem for the champions is that they also need Ballysteen to beat Ballylanders, and after a good start, Ballysteen are another club moving in the wrong direction. Their one point defeat to Drom–Broadford last time out was more a reflection of D-B’s failure to close out the game than anything else, so here too the favourites are 8/13 and should prevail.
In Group 2, Fr Caseys are 1/8 favourites against Mountcollins but that price should be avoided. Their place on top of the group is secure, while Mountcollins have the chance to make history and to get into a quarter final a few short years after they were playing junior football. There’s no substitute for motivation and while we’d be piling into Fr Caseys at 1/8 if this were a knockout tie, Powers are going 9/2 about a Mountcollins win here and that could be worth a small bet of a fiver or so, just for interest.
St Kierans will qualify regardless of what happens, but Adare still have an outside chance of a playoff spot, depending on other results. 11/8 Adare may look very short here but that’s the reason why Powers are keeping the odds tight and that’s why we’re steering clear of this one.
Finally, in the Live95fm Senior Hurling championship semi finals, Na Piarsaigh will play Kilmallock while Adare will face Garryspillane on the 16th of September. For more on these games, other GAA fixtures and odds, log on to www.limerickpost.ie this week.
