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INPHO/ Tom Honan
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You betcha! Check out the top three wagers of the GAA weekend

Our-self-proclaimed gambling novice Ewan MacKenna started out with €100 which he’s been warned not to spend all at once. Each Friday he’ll have his three bets for the weekend and we’ll be keeping tabs on his progress. Close tabs.

OH YE OF little faith. That classic Meat Loaf ballad may have said two out of three ain’t bad but in betting terms it’s bloody good.

Last weekend our €20 on Dublin to score the first goal versus Louth at 4/6 came good as did our €4 on Leitrim to beat London at 11/10. Only an injury-time Longford free stopped us getting the clean sweep but it’s suddenly left us up for the season with a balance of €116.73.

Time to get spending.

Bet One: €21.73 on Meath (-7) to beat Carlow at 10/11

After they lost to Meath, Wicklow manager Harry Murphy said his side simply couldn’t compete physically. And they are a group that’s a whole lot bigger than Carlow. Outside of the midfield where the underdogs may come close, it’s hard to see where they’ll get goals with Kevin Reilly looking back to his best and it’s hard to see where they’ll get points having been the lowest-scoring team in Division 4 outside of Kilkenny. It’s the opposite at the other end of the field and we cannot see them containing Graham Reilly and Stephen Bray from range. But what sold us this most of all is the likelihood of Meath getting goals. Brian Farrell showed glimpses of his best last day out, Joe Sheridan will be unmarkable in this one and Cian Ward always turns it on against the minnows. Our biggest bet of the season for a reason.

Bet Two: €8.00 on Cork (-1) to beat Kerry 6/5

It’s simple. Cork are at home, have the better backs, better midfield, better depth, better physicality and equally good forwards. That’s a whole lot going in their favour and we just cannot see Kerry get within two or three. We’ve outlined in our previews exactly how Cork will get their scores, and while the Shields-Donaghy, Cadogan-Cooper match-ups could go either way, you cannot say that of so many of the battles at the other end of the field. Seamus Scanlon, Eoin Brosnan and Aidan O’Mahony in a line don’t fill us with confidence although our only concern is if Darran O’Sullivan is allowed to run at Graham Canty as he was a year ago.

Bet Three: €2 on Peter Harte anytime goalscorer for Armagh at 7/2

No team scored more goals in the top three divisions this league as Tyrone netted 11 times. A big part of that was Peter Harte who accounted for more than a third of those, finishing the campaign with four. And that was from centre-half back. He’ll be further up the field at the Athletic Grounds, and with his pace and the angles he runs at, not to mention the attention Armagh will have to pay to an O’Neill-Penrose-Mulligan inside forward line, this is worth a small punt.

Left in the bank: €85