Marc Ó Sé previews the weekend’s All Ireland Senior Championship action
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Ladbrokes ambassador Marc Ó Sé previews four matches from this weekend’s All Ireland Senior Championship.
Monaghan surprised everyone beating Tyrone and in doing so have set up a mouth-watering clash with Derry. The question now is who will book their place in the Ulster Final?
Monaghan looked in serious trouble in their first-half performance against Tyrone but they really rallied in the second half and that never-say-die attitude they possess shone. Derry are hoping to make it back-to-back Ulster titles, so Vinny Corey’s men will need to call on that attitude again.
They will also need to make sure they can curb the influence of Shane McGuigan if they have any chance of a win here. If they do that and if Conor McManus can reproduce his outstanding performance that he gave against Tyrone, I am going to slightly favour Monaghan for this one and I am backing them at 15/8.
Who would have predicted that either Offaly or Louth would be in a Leinster Final this year? In Offaly’s case this game is a must win for them to get into the All-Ireland series so there will possibly be more pressure on them to perform.
Beating Meath last weekend is going to give them huge confidence and they know that if they can rediscover that form, they won’t be too far away. However, I think Louth are that little bit ahead of Offaly and with a forward of the ability of Sam Mulroy, I fancy them for the win at 4/9.
The provincial Championship is something that needs to be looked at as Dublin and Kerry are so far ahead of the pack. No other team stand a chance to win those provinces. At the start of this year, there was a lot of hope that Meath and Kildare could test Dublin. Unfortunately, Kildare regressed and this game will simply be another run out for the Dubs.
Lastly we look at Armagh v Down at Clones. Conor Turbitt is my player of the championship so far. Since Rian O’Neill’s injury, Turbitt has really stepped up and he has also picked up the man-of-the-match gong two games in a row.
Down will need to keep close tabs on him on Sunday but the difficulty there is that they may also need to factor in Rian O’Neill who may start. Down will know that a victory for them would see them play in the All-Ireland series but for me that is probably a step too far even though I have seen progress from them this year. Armagh to win at 2/7.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
