IF KILMALLOCK manager Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin had been given the opportunity to handpick the result from last Sunday’s Munster club football semi-final between Cratloe and the Nire, it’s hard to imagine that he would have opted for anything other than what transpired at Fraher Field.
The Clare champions, with their heavy hand of dual players, were asked to play for 80 minutes of tiring football on soft ground. At the end of all that they still came up short, leaving them emotionally and physically drained but without the boost that they would have got from recording a victory and keeping their incredible unbeaten run going.
While we wouldn’t suggest for a minute that the Clare club will be a shadow of themselves or anything like it at the Gaelic Grounds this week, Paddy Powers’ decision to install them as favourites for the tie seems a little surprising in the light of that result. Their win over Thurles Sarsfields was very impressive of course, but the pressure of hurling with 14 men for the full hour was always likely to take a toll on the Tipperary side so it’s no more impressive than Kilmallock’s victory over the Cork champions.
Avid followers of this column are already invested in Kilmallock at 12/1 each way for the All Ireland, meaning that a win on Sunday will almost certainly lead to healthy profits, given the absence of a strong Antrim team from the semi-final line up. However if you aren’t already on board, 5/4 for the match is an attractive price and well worth keeping on side.
For a secondary interest, go low on total points at 5/6 about under 35.5. Every day that passes is another day of moisture in the ground, while in general this is a low scoring fixture. Eleven finals have been played since 2003 (including one replay) and Thurles’ win over De la Salle two years is the only one that would have crossed this threshold. Both sides have their fair share of capable forwards but this line should still be a lot closer to 33 or even 32.
Bruff will also fly the flag for the Treaty county this week but at 1/3 to beat Waterford champions Cappoquin at Mallow, we’ve little option but to give them a wide berth.
Limerick sides have had a much better record in this competition than their Waterford counterparts in recent years, but the manner of Cappoquin’s win over Feakle in the previous round – coming back from seven points down away from home – is the type of victory that will send them into this game full of confidence. Bruff deserve to be favourites here but to be honest, at the prices on offer the only logical bet is a play on Cappoquin at 12/5, even though we would never officially make such a treasonous recommendation in a fine Limerick publication!
by Kevin Egan, PaddyPower
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