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Money in the bag Inpho
Betting

You betcha! Check out the top three wagers of the GAA weekend

Having escaped from the office with €100 of our money, Ewan MacKenna spends the summer betting it wisely and promising us a profit via his three tips a week.

Our self-proclaimed gambling novice Ewan MacKenna, who is keen to point out that he wouldn’t do this with his own money, is starting out with €100 which he’s been warned not to spend all at once.

It’s for an entire summer’s worth of Gaelic football and each Friday he’ll have his three bets for the weekend and we’ll be keeping tabs on his progress. Close tabs. This weekend’s bets are as follows…


1. €5 on Colm Cooper anytime goalscorer against Tipperary: 2/1

The Gooch has been repeatedly talking about how a break from football has done him the world of good. Ominous words from the best player in the game. In Kerry’s last two championship maulings of Tipperary he hasn’t goaled which, rather than being a turn off, makes us think that he’s due one.

And besides, this is the poorest Tipperary he’ll have faced in that time. Add in the fact that Kieran Donaghy isn’t beside him and that means he’ll be even more of a target for ball in. That makes it the lock of the weekend.

2. €3 on Joe Sheridan anytime goalscorer against Wicklow: 11/5

Say what you will of the full-forward after that goal against Louth a couple of seasons back and after emigration followed quickly by immigration this Spring. But we think he’s gotten far too hard a time. He’s still one of the most gifted players in the country, would easily make an all-Leinster team and obviously found a hunger for the game when in America  that made him want to return so soon.

He can win his own ball, is a brilliant direct runner, has one of the hardest shots in the game and is up against a side who struggled defensively not only in the league final but all league where only Kilkenny conceded more goals in Division 4

3. €2 on Monaghan (-2) to beat Antrim: evens

Darren Hughes is a huge loss, Monaghan were relegated and they’ve yet to win a championship game under Eamonn McEneaney so this is just a hunch.

The opposition is treading water under Baker Bradley, a manager who is surely just counting time until he moves to Derry, and if this league has taught us anything it’s that Antrim survive only by scoring goals and Monaghan can beat a lot of better teams when Paul Finlay has one of those days when he looks like an All Star.

If those two factors align in the right way, there’ll be more than the two-point handicap in it.

Left in the bank: €90

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