It's Time To Bet Like Men

[Donnellys Hollow]

DHs idea strikes me as a good one though

Kerry although on the slide, will still have too much for Donegal, game will be tight due to the way Donegal set up, but most of the best footballers will be wearing green and gold.

Will Kerry not be wearing the royal blue of Munster?

[rodney trotter]

DHs idea strikes me as a good one though

Kerry although on the slide, will still have too much for Donegal, game will be tight due to the way Donegal set up, but most of the best footballers will be wearing green and gold.

Will Kerry not be wearing the royal blue of Munster?

They are indeed.

[yellowcard]

Thats very lazy analysis to say if donegal win its a victory for system, bad for football etc. Its also a loada shite.

Last year donegal were very defensive, the problem most people had was that one of the best forwards in the game was playing out round the middle the whole time. Donegal are a different animal this year. I've no idea of the stats, but I'd say their defenders have scored more than anyone elses, corner backs banging in goals, and lacey scoring flat out. Its all action, not just defence. Its true ulster is on a dip, but it strikes me that donegal have by and large, particularly v tyrone, only done what they had to do.

You can say kerry had the ai won with 7 min to go, and thats true, but a donegal side that has come on leaps and bounds since last year should have beaten the eventual ai champions, so what of either of those statistics?

Lastly, in terms of betting, if donegal beat kerry, and cork struggled or were beaten by kildare (and I'll be betting on the kildare handicap [which in fairness is prob as good a reason as any to back cork], I don think you'd get 5/4 on dgal in the semi, nor will you get 5/4 on any team which comes out of this side of the draw, esp if dublin splutter a bit or are beaten. I dont care anyway, I've 18s, just saying 

DHs idea strikes me as a good one though

Fair enough, thats your opinion but I don't think anyone could make an argument that Donegal have the best players in the country. In fact if they did win it the single biggest reason would undoubtedly be Jim McGuinness with his groundbreaking preparations and systems and not the players. Personally I think it would be a victory for systems and meticulous preparation whilst you clearly don't.

[haranguerer]

Yes, but I'm talking about when victories for systems etc are held up as though they are diametrically opposite to football. One is the other, they cant be mutually exclusive.

Who does have the best players in the country? Doesnt it change from year to year depending largely on who has won the AI?

[Ohtoohtobe]

Donegal will drag them down into a bitter battle, reminiscent of Kerry vs Tyrone in 2003.

Donegal aren't as good as Tyrone 2003. That Tyrone side had won two All-Ireland minor and two All-Ireland U21 titles in the five years previous. Donegal have one Ulster U21 title in the past five years.

Donegal should have won U21 All Ireland title in 2010 Murphy's missed penalty cost them however it's true Donegal aren't as good either are Kerry 2012 as good as Kerry in 2003.

Donegal have a midfield however, Tyrone never had, and I feel Kerry have got away with theirs this last while

I dunno. Sheehan and Maher might not be as good a partnership as Kerry had five years ago, but I think it's as good as what's left, with the possible exception of Cork's.

[haranguerer]

Its not better than Donegals.

[Dangleberrys]

What odds on Kerry/Mayo final?

[Blowitupref]

What odds on Kerry/Mayo final?

10/1. Cork v Dublin final is what the punters think, it's currently 5/2.

[Keane]

Here are my thoughts on Saturday's games FWIW:

http://www.livegaelic.com/the-proper-punter/gaa-betting-saturday-04th-august/

[haranguerer]

Both accurate imo

[eddie d]

Can't understand this Donegal bandwagon at all.
Kerry had the All-Ireland won with seven minutes to go and have lost one player from that team. They topped Division One of the league and are in serious form.
Donegal have achieved the precise total of fcuk all.
This reminds me of 2009 when Dublin were odds-on faves to beat Kerry in the quarters. I lumped on €200 on the Kingdom and my bet was safe after 42 seconds.
Kerry might not win by 17 points on Sunday, but I'd be shocked if they didn't win.
Kerry by five for me.

now two ulster titles isnt fcuk all, both from preliminary round, they dont have the luxury of getn a bye to the semi final and meet the might of clare or limerick 
am i now on the wagon? 

[rodney trotter]

Can't understand this Donegal bandwagon at all.
Kerry had the All-Ireland won with seven minutes to go and have lost one player from that team. They topped Division One of the league and are in serious form.
Donegal have achieved the precise total of fcuk all.
This reminds me of 2009 when Dublin were odds-on faves to beat Kerry in the quarters. I lumped on €200 on the Kingdom and my bet was safe after 42 seconds.
Kerry might not win by 17 points on Sunday, but I'd be shocked if they didn't win.
Kerry by five for me.

now two ulster titles isnt fcuk all, both from preliminary round, they dont have the luxury of getn a bye to the semi final and meet the might of clare or limerick 
am i now on the wagon? 

Exactly,  winning back to back Ulster titles via the preliminary round is worth respect anywhere.That was 8 games in total. Ulster is the toughest competition to win.

There was talk 2 years of changing the format for each province by having even numbers, 8 counties in each province. Mayo who dominate Connacht etc would have it harder then...

[Keane]

Here are my thoughts on Saturday's games FWIW:

http://www.livegaelic.com/the-proper-punter/gaa-betting-saturday-04th-august/

Hope a few people took note of these.

[Keane]

Added tomorrow's two games' previews to the column for anyone who hasn't seen them as well at the same link.

[magpie seanie]

I do think whoever wins between Kerry & Donegal will win it out. Kerry can play badly and still win though, which might get them through.