Through Irish Eyes: Tipperary can edge close final against Galway
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It’s been almost ten years since Tipperary and Galway clashed in the Allianz Hurling League final. Galway eased past Limerick in the semis while Tipperary demolished Wexford with a late flurry of scoring from the McGrath brothers.
The semi-final took its toll on Tipperary, robbing them of top scorer Seamus Callanan who broke his thumb against Wexford.
They may also have to do without Jason Forde, who has surprisingly been hit with a two match ban for the bizarre altercation with Davy Fitz, when the Wexford manager invaded the pitch to berate the referee and squared up to some Tipp players. For the uninitiated, that was standard Davy Fitz behaviour.
It all means it’s very likely that John ‘Bubbles’ O’ Dwyer, famous for smashing in a goal against Kilkenny in the 2016 All Ireland Final win and infamous for cursing on national television in the subsequent interview, will start and he’s 13/2 to grab the first goal.
Bubbles made a big impact off the bench last time, setting up Noel McGrath with a fantastic diagonal ball.
And he could turn provider again for the same man to score first at 9/2 or brother Noel McGrath, a 9/1 shot to grab the first goal for Tipp.
Galway’s top scorer Joe Canning is 13/2 to score first but as he’s been playing in the half forward line a bit more recently so Conor Cooney, also at 13/2 and off the back of netting an important goal against Limerick, might be a bit more likely.
At the bigger price of 20/1 though, David Burke for Galway could be very interesting as he will be named in midfield but often plays in the full forward line.
Recent clashes between these two have been closely fought.
When they met in the league last year the game ended in a draw and after that Tipp squeaked it by a point in the All Ireland semi-final.
At a big price, the 10/1 on the draw would not be totally out of the question. I think it’s likely though, that we’ll see a repeat of the 2008 final when Tipperary nicked it by two points.
Therefore, the 10/3 for Tipperary to win by 1-3 points looks good value.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
