Allianz National Hurling League begins - outright preview

Now that the first few weeks of February are behind us, the ground is starting to get firm enough for the small ball artists to make their way out of the gyms and on to the fields. The Allianz National hurling league gets underway this weekend and the bookmakers are offering the usual array of antepost bets, with All Ireland champions Kilkenny heading the betting. Here's our rundown on the six division 1A  participants and how we feel they should be approached in terms of antepost betting and with this weekend in mind. 

Kilkenny

Much has been made of the spate of retirements happening down in Kilkenny this winter, but while there are some who would argue that this should be a cause for concern among Kilkenny supporters, an alternative way of looking at things is that the demands being made by Brian Cody remain high and players know full well that it isn't simply a matter of tagging along and picking up another All Ireland medal at the end of the year. Kilkenny will always be there or thereabouts, but the betting reflects this so there's little or no value to be had when we all know they have bigger fish to fry and will happily field plenty of younger players if Cody feels they need the experience. 

Tipperary

When Tipp won the All Ireland, they took their time getting back into the full swing of things and last year's league saw them start very poorly. This year they could do with hitting the ground running since just as they are looking up at Kilkenny, so Dublin and Galway are snapping at Tipp's heels. Powers head the betting at 2/1 about the Premier men and with three home ties in the round robin stages, not to mention a clash with Dublin in Croke Park, they look like the better of the two short priced options. 

Cork

Both Cork and their manager enter this league campaign with big reputations, but those reputations have definitely been afforded more than enough respect when we see the short prices on offer in the marketplace. Jimmy Barry Murphy has a lot of work to do to get this team up to the standard required, particularly when we see how poor they were in the qualifiers last year against Offaly and Galway. They make no appeal at this early stage, even if there is a bounce in their fortunes under JBM.

Waterford

Manager Michael Ryan should benefit from the good work done by David Fitzgerald in recent years and Waterford are a lot closer to the standard required than some teams give them credit for. However the news that John Mullane is taking a back seat for the National Hurling League means that they might not have the wherewithal to go deep into the competition. Nonetheless, they are on offer at 9/4 with Boylesports this weekend and there's a lot to like about that particular price. Cork, as we discussed previously, have a lot of ground to make up and while they will be highly charged for this Saturday night's fixture, there is no reason why the better, more proven team should be that much of an underdog in this clash.

Galway

 A new club champion, another great year at underage level, and a new manager with a proven track record of success. All the ingredients are in place for Galway to have a great year this year , but then many of those same ingredients have been in place for a long time now and still the success hasn't come as people expected. Anthony Cunningham will be distracted by his Garrycastle commitments for a bit longer than most people thought would be the case now however, and the news that Joe Canning limped out of today's Fitzgibbon Cup tie between LIT and GMIT is also a huge worry.  They make no appeal in the betting, for now at least. 

Dublin

After years of hype, the men from the capital are actually coming into this season somewhat under the radar, though undoubtedly the plethora of new managers elsewhere has something to do with that. Anthony Daly has pushed his players very hard for a long time now and he did give them something of a reprieve over the winter, but even so Dublin are an elite team now and the 9/1 from William Hill is a very attractive looking price. They have three away ties however so finishing something like fourth or fifth is possibly the most likely outcome. Even so, it's a good price about a team that have proven that they will attack every game with gusto.