WITH Kilmallock taking on Portaferry this Saturday at 2pm in Mullingar, Paddy Power looks at the tale of the tape for all sides left in the competition.
Over the past decade, Munster club champions have had a terrible record in the All Ireland club hurling championship, recording just one win in normal time in thirteen attempts. That solitary victory was secured by Newtownshandrum in 2006 at the expense of Ballygalget of Down, while the margin on that occasion was the bare minimum (0-14 to 1-10).
Now, nine years later, Portaferry have become the first Mourne County team since that Ballygalget side to come through the Ulster club hurling championship and their reward is another meeting with Munster opposition in the form of Kilmallock.
Kilmallock’s form last Autumn deservedly earned them a first Munster club title in twenty years, however they didn’t do anything to suggest that they will be significantly better or worse than the average Munster club winner – and frankly, that standard has traditionally fallen short at this stage of the season.
There is however some justification for believing that Portaferry will be a few notches weaker than the average Ulster club champion, and so Kilmallock should be good enough to come through. However at odds of 1/12 to win the match or 10/11 minus seven points on the handicap, the price we have to pay to back the reigning Limerick and Munster champions is just too heavy this week.
If you do want to have a bet on the game, by all means take the 10/11, but double it with the same price about Ballyhale Shamrocks beating Gort of Galway by five points or more.
In contrast with Munster club form, Galway winners tend to do very well at this stage of competition. Nine of the last ten teams that came out of the western county won their All Ireland semi-final meeting and went on to hurl in Croke Park on St Patricks Day. However shrewd readers will remember the one exception to that rule; Gort GAA club, who lost to Coolderry of Offaly three years ago.
Gort are a team that are well built for winter hurling, with plenty of physical strength and power in both defence and attack. However in terms of raw scoring ability, they simply cannot hope to compete with a Ballyhale Shamrocks side that frankly, would be a match for most county teams. Neither is it the case that hurlers like Michael Fennelly and TJ Reid are unable to compete physically and to win their own ball at either end of the field. Given a choice, this writer would expect the larger winning margin to result in the second of the two semi-finals, but the more obvious betting option is to take the 10/11 about Ballyhale minus, and to double that up with Kilmallock if you feel like adding a patriotic tinge to your wager.
Odds provided are from Paddy Power stores.
by Kevin Egan
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