The Dual Player

Last Sunday's game in Ruislip between Dr Crokes of Killarney and Tír Chonaill Gaels of Greenford and London brought down the curtain on the meaningful GAA action in 2012, leaving supporters with plenty to talk about and plenty of room for conjecture in advance of the 2013 season. Most supporters will of course be concerned for their own team's fortunes but there is also a world of antepost betting out there and here on Betting.com, we thought we'd give our readers a little bit to think about by taking a quick look at the early prices for next season's National Hurling League. All the prices in brackets beside each team are the best odds available in the betting market, with Bet365, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes already up and trading. Kilkenny (11/8) Every hurling preview seems to revolve around the "back or lay" conundrum that surrounds the Cats, and at the price of 11/8, it's hard to oppose the reigning All Ireland and league champions. We saw in the Leinster ...

Kilcormac-Killoughey manager Danny Owens would never admit it publicly, but his club's dream of winning a Leinster club hurling title at the first attempt got a little bit closer last Saturday afternoon in Wexford Park, when Oulart-the-Ballagh knocked out Leinster and All Ireland favourites Ballyhale Shamrocks in a nail-biting encounter. Oulart-the-Ballagh were the outsiders against antepost betting favourites Shamrocks, but after making a great start the Kilkenny champions fell away late in the game, depleted by the injury to leading attacker and talisman Henry Shefflin. The current match betting prices still have Kilcormac-Killoughey installed as the underdogs for this clash and rightly so, as nothing they've done so far this year compares with the achievement of knocking out a club like Ballyhale. William Hill bet 3/10 Oulart, which is now best price after Paddy Powers cut the Wexford club into 1/4. Powers and Bet365 head the market on K-K, betting the midlanders at 10/3, while ...

In any sport, there's nothing more intriguing than a contrast in styles. Whether it's a southpaw taking on a conventional boxer, a hard running staying chaser taking on a faster horse that's stepping up in trip, a baseline expert taking on a serve and volley exponent in tennis or a power rugby team taking on a side full of flair, it's always fascinating to see how the two sides that differ in approach will match up and who will come out on top. That's exactly what we will be treated to on Sunday on TG4 when Dr Crokes meet Castlehaven in the final of the Munster club football championship. Dr Crokes have a stellar attacking unit, led by one of the greatest forwards the game has ever known in Colm Cooper, while Castlehaven have been outstanding defensively this year, conceding just one goal in eight championship games. Granted the Cork champions haven't met any players of Cooper's class as of yet, but neither have Dr Crokes played a team of such incredible defensive ...

Domestic action is done for the year in most counties, meaning that GAA supporters have little choice but to stay at home on Sunday and take in the two games that are scheduled to be broadcast live on TG4. First up the Munster club hurling final takes place between Thurles Sarsfields and De la Salle of Waterford, and that's followed by delayed coverage of the Connacht football final between Ballaghaderreen and St Brigids. Despite the fact that both Thurles and De la Salle would have been seen as equally strong contenders to win Munster all year, Sarsfields have actually been installed as quite clearcut favourites by the betting community for this Sunday's clash. 4/7 is the best price available about a win for Sarsfields on Sunday, while you'll get 9/1 about the draw and 2/1 about a win for the Waterford champions from Boylesports. That's quite remarkable when we consider that this De la Salle team are going after their third Munster title in five years, while Thurles Sarsfields ...

Whether at county or club level, the Ulster football championship is always a minefield. However while there are plenty of pitfalls for any team that seeks silverware, in recent years we've seen the emergence of a two tier Ulster championship at both levels. There are those who compete, and there are those who get blown away. Last week Crossmaglen looked like the real deal when taking on St Eunans, but with all due respect to the Letterkenny club, they were slightly fortunate to win the Donegal championship against Naomh Conaill and they were utterly out of their depth, just the same as Tempo from Fermanagh, Mullahoran of Cavan and Ballybay of Monaghan. The same could not be said for Errigal Ciarán, who have already proved with wins over Mullahoran and Ballinderry that they are capable of going well in this competition. Errigal also have a great track record against Cross. Four times they've lined out against the Armagh champions and they've yet to be beaten. In 1997 ...

In the latter stages of the 1990's and on into the first half of the 00's, the Connacht club championship winners were invariably extremely competitive and the western representatives always figured prominently in the betting for the All Ireland club championship the following Spring. Five times in nine years the Andy Merrigan Cup went west of the Shannon on St Patricks day, culminating in Salthill-Knocknacarra's win in 2005. However since then things have gone horribly wrong for the Connacht championship and in six All Ireland campaigns since then, St Brigids' win over Nemo Rangers in February of 2011 stands out alone as the province's only successful match in seven attempts. The fortunes of the Connacht champions in Spring may not be an issue yet, but those numbers illustratethat while St Brigids may seem like a dominant force on the Irish club scene, they aren't as exceptional as some would make them out to be and they are very uneasy favourites at prices like ...

Wintry conditions have definitely settled in on this side of the Irish Sea and "soft ground" football and hurling is very much the order of the day from now on. Venues like Athenry and Tullamore saw some particularly poor weather at the weekend and just the same as there are horses that love top of the ground conditions and there are others that are only ever a good bet on bottomless turf, so it is that there are certain teams that really come into their own at this time of year. This Sunday there are several high quality games taking place all around the country and there could be plenty of betting value to be had by sticking with those teams that thrive on softer ground. The obvious example that leaps off the page is the Gort hurling team, who are 10/11 plus one point to beat St Thomas in the replay of their Galway hurling semi-final. Last week both they and St Thomas shot plenty of wides when playing with the wind in the drawn fixture, but Gort seemed to have a lot more difficulty ...

Unlike a lot of competitions, there is no shotgun start to the All Ireland Club football championships. Every year as many as a few dozen counties start out with realistic aspirations of going deep into the competition, but many of them can trip up even before they get out of their county. For example there are currently still over 40 clubs in the running and the betting suggests that a third of the field is in with a decent shout of lifting the Andy Merrigan Cup. But even though next March is still a long way off, several high profile contenders have already bitten the dust. Corofin of Galway, Nemo Rangers of Cork, Moorefield of Kildare and Oliver Plunketts of Dublin would all have been considered as strong contenders, but only Corofin even got to the last four of their respective county championships, with the rest falling away early. Even Corofin lost out to Tuam Stars, who in turn became a beaten docket last Sunday. So of those that are still in the running, where does the betting value ...

It's county final season again, with TG4 set to bring us two top class domestic deciders this Sunday. Their coverage starts with the Galway SFC final live from Pearse Stadium and that's followed by deferred coverage of the Tipperary SHC final, down to be played on Tom Semple's field in Thurles. A quick look at the match betting for the Galway SFC final suggests that Tuam Stars, after defeating county champions Corofin in the semi-final round, are the fancied side in the battle for the Frank Fox Cup. Salthill-Knocknacarra stand in their way and while the North Galway club are getting the nod in most of the local previews around the county, we wouldn't be as quick to side with them. Salthill-Knocknacarra have gone about their business in a quiet and efficient fashion this season and even though they don't have the headline win to their name, they've played some very effective defensive football while still not relying too heavily on Seán Armstrong up front carrying ...

Sunday's All Ireland hurling final replay between Galway and Kilkenny will be a fascinating study into the psychology of this Galway hurling team. What we can say with some degree of certainty is that this group of players will never get a better chance to win an All Ireland title. Despite going into the drawn game as serious underdogs in the betting market, despite having flagged up their potential in the Leinster final, they still burst out of the blocks and put Kilkenny on the back foot. Defensively they were very decent throughout and players like Johnny Coen and Niall Donoghue can be very proud of their efforts. Even more importantly, when Kilkenny started to get the upper hand in the second half, Galway did a great job of hanging in there and salvaging a result through Niall Burke's goal and Joe Canning's late free. They weren't playing well, they had drifted back into odds against territory on the betting in play market and yet they still did enough to give themselves ...