GAA, Weekend 2nd/3rd July 2011.

[Suir Thing]

All Ireland Hurling Qualifiersfficeffice" />
02 Jul 19:00 4/9 Galway v 13/5 Clare (Draw 12/1)
02 Jul 17:00 1/2 Limerick v 9/4 Wexford (Draw 10/1)

Leinster SHC Final
03 Jul 16:00 11/4 Dublin v 4/9 Kilkenny (Draw 11/1)


Munster SFC Final
03 Jul 14:00 15/13 Kerry v 11/10 Cork (Draw 15/2)

Ulster SHC Final
03 Jul 15:30 1/10 Antrim v 7/1 Armagh (Draw 16/1)

Galway v Clare. Galway as reports said are in a bad place after getting beaten by Dublin in the Leinster Championship. Galway have slipped back alot in recent years and now have made 5 changes to the team that lost against Dublin, to see if they can manage to salvage some pride. Clare who finished runners up in Div 2 and were promoted back to Div 1, they are slowly improving, they gave Tipp a scare in their last game, eventually losing 1-19 to 4-19. The seem to have some defensive problems but have had time to correct this, Galway are no great scoring threat at the moment anyhow as they could only manage 9 scores agains Dublin. I always favour the boxer that is on the way up over the one that is on the way down, its the same as I see it here, this should be alot closer than the odds suggest, with Clare possibily coming through.
Clare +3 11/10 Boylesports (StanJames go 5/6 on Clare +4)

Limerick v Wexford. I saw Limerick at first hand when we beat them in the Munster Semi Final. They played really well and were in hard luck to leave it behind them. Waterford's experience pulled them through. Limerick will come on again from that game, they have Stephen Lucey back too and this will greatly boost them. They have one of the best managers in the game in Donal O'Grady and are a good outfit, Wexford on the other hand are picking themselves up after being easily beaten in the last round by Killkenny 1-15 to 1-26, I have not seen anything from Wexford of late that would inspire any confidence. Limerick with home advantage to boost will be winning this.
Limerick 1/2 StanJames (Boyles are 4/9)

Dublin v KilkennyI am still not a believer in this Dublin hurling hype, Waterford beat Killkenny in a league final a few years back but it did not matter a bit when they met in the Championship, that was the Killkenny B team that Dublin beat in the league final. The big guns are back now and it will be a different game. Dublin are missing 1 or 2 also something they cannot afford to do. Killkenny will go for the jugular and Dublin won't know whats happening. Killkenny are rightly priced up as favourites for this one.
Killkenny 4/11 Boylesports

Kerry v Cork Not a game to be having a bet on normally, Never more than a kick of a ball between these 2 counties and it probably will be no different on Sunday, Kerry have not been playing as well or as organised as Cork of late but can never be written off especially once the Championship starts. With the game being played in Killarney it may also be worth a point or 2 to Kerry as its over 10 years since Cork beat them at fortress Killarney.
Kerry +2 8/15 Boylesports

Antrim v Armagh Not much to say about this one as it should be a straight forward task for Antrim, no disrespect to Armagh who did well to beat a fancied Down in the last round but they are up against it here.
Antrim 1/10 Bet 365 & Betfair, Paddy Power is 1/14 none of the other bookies have quoted this match.

All said I have gone for the following,
Killkenny / Limerick, double @ evs, nailed on to win in my opinion.
Kerry +2, Killkenny, Clare +3, Limerick. Accum for smaller stakes @ 11/2

[Suir Thing]

As the site was down for the best part of the week, I never got back to this.
It was not such a bad weekend from the betting point of view, the nailed on double, which was my big bet came up, as Killkenny & Limerick won their games easy.
As for the accum for small stakes, Clare let me down there as Galway turned their season around, but I may be able to take something from this game, this coming weekend, as Galway are in action again.
So onto this weekend's games, I will post up shortly.