Tipster form guide

We might use this thread to inform other tipsters of the situation in your own county before league fixtures - injuries, form, expectation etc. Might help their decisions in the competition - or not!!!

Kerry v Dublin
Champions first competitive outing since winning Sam - and in front of a home crowd. Dublin at the beginning of a major revamp. Can only be one result.

Verdict: Kerry

jc is this a dublin jackeen tryin to be a cute hoor to the county that patented cute hoors?

kerry have lost their keeper, walsh, tie kennelly and its probable that DOS wont play much part in the league - they are not just interested in football and beer down there some havent seen a ball in months ! dublin will probably try to do with kerry what they tried in omagh a few years ago . i expect a tough match only a point or two init , i predicted a kerry win in the comp but a draw or a slim win for the city slickers wuoldnt shock me at all.

No RHM - to be honest I wouldn't give us a prayer! But I will not divulge my tipster selection until all are posted .......

Of the 12 selections in I can already say no team will have unanimous backing this week!

We will have a weakened team out but will still be too strong for Dublin. Our second string would beat the majority of county teams.

Sure half the Kerry team are going to be watching the superbowl in 'merica.

Donegal will have too much for Westmeath and the best 1-7 in the country.

We're going to relegated this year. That's almost a certainty with the vast changes in the team

A brand new squad has to be built, and the future is more important

I've heard Hackett interviewed once or twice, and he reminds of Mickey Harte (not just accent wise) .He speaks a hell of a lot of sense like that man and has a good plan for the county. I reckon if he nurtures our good young players we might be decent again.

So don't bother betting on us this year. League or Championship

Maybe we'll be able to stop Kildare's 'one in a row' Leinster in 2011 though!

While we're not exactly flying,we'll have too much for Waterford come Sunday on the return of NFL matches to Ballinamore after an abscence of many years.
Get on at 1/2 and avoid the handicap.....cue smart comments..

Boxtyeater wrote:Get on at 1/2 and avoid the handicap.....cue smart comments..

Leitrim are always worth a look in the auld handicap betting

Sebastian - I am inclined to agree with you there. The performances of WH in the league and c'ship against Dublin last year were among the poorest I ever saw (even worse than us v Tyrone 08 and Kerry 09!!). And this was a team that could have beat us in Croker in 08 - hard to know what went so wrong in the space of a season. So there is no reason why a new face in Hackett can't turn it around fairly quickly. There are some good players there and they didn't become bad overnight/

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Sebastian - I am inclined to agree with you there. The performances of WH in the league and c'ship against Dublin last year were among the poorest I ever saw (even worse than us v Tyrone 08 and Kerry 09!!). And this was a team that could have beat us in Croker in 08 - hard to know what went so wrong in the space of a season. So there is no reason why a new face in Hackett can't turn it around fairly quickly. There are some good players there and they didn't become bad overnight/

It was horrendous last year for us. Injuries took their toll I suppose, I really don't know, neither do the people involved in the team.It was like a junior c team playing a senior team twice last year against the Dubs. T'was very disheartening!

No Dessie, and more importantly no Keane (or Gavin) will make it tough for Hackett in championship, but who knows?

Sebastian wrote:
No Dessie, and more importantly no Keane (or Gavin) will make it tough for Hackett in championship, but who knows?

Aye Seb - but as you have touched on - a lot of the problems were the players hearts weren't in it for whatever reason. I genuinely felt sorry for them (esp Glennon an excellent player breaking his bo**ox almost alone) when Dublin hit the 5th (Mossy on as sub I think) in Parnell and said on the way out that we might live to regret that in the summer. But it was almost the exact same scéal in Croker. There was a lot wrong there - they are nowhere near as bad a team as they showed.

Not sure how Sligo will fare this year. Last year was a relative success, with a successful league campaign followed by an inconsistent championship.
The performance against Galway was not great, despite running them close, and the performance in the first game in the qualifiers against Tipp was very poor. Even in the Kerry game we only played well in patches.

FBD League is no indicator of where we are going, especially as experimental teams were tried in all three games. From what I have heard back the performance against Galway was very poor (worse than suggested by the scoreline), and inconsistent against both GMIT and Leitrim.

The two areas of worry are CHB and mid-field.
CHB was a problem area last year, with Ewing, Phillips and eventually McNamara all trying to fill the position.
Ewing is a great young player, but isn't big enough for the position. He needs to be on the wing.
Phillips is so far past it that "it" is a dot in the rear view mirror from where he is. He doesn't have the pace or stamina for the role anymore.
McNamara is a nice tidy footballer, but isn't a back, never mind a CHB. If he is to be played (which is debateable) he needs to be in the forwards.
From what I understand one or two other lads have been tried out in the position this year, but as I haven't seen any games to comment.

Midfield is a worrying position, as we have no natural ball winner to play there, and O'Hara is too old/injury prone to be expected to do the tracking back and endless running that is required (he's better as wing-forward or as impact sub at this stage).
Eamon Mullen showed some potential as a ball-winner last year, but doesn't really have the ball skills required for I/C level. Young Stephen Gilmartin looks to have the ability to be the future of Sligo at midfield, but he's still only 22/23, and needs to bulk up a bit more if he want's to play out around the middle. My own clubman, Brian Og Murphy was tried there last weekend, and by all accounts did ok. It's a big step up for him, but he undoubtedly has the ability to do well, if given time to make the step up.

All in all, I wouldn't hold out massive optimism for Sligo this year, especially considering our Championship draw. It's still very much a teamunder construction, but sounds from the camp is that Walsh has them heading in the right direction.
I'd be satisfied with maintaining our position in Div 3 for this year, and getting to the final round of the qualifiers.

Sligo are on the up. Their opening league encounter against Antrim should be a good game and I can see both of those doing well in Div 3 this year. Walsh is the type that fella's want to do well for and after the highs of 07 and the lows of 08 he brought a bit of balance back to the side last year. Can see them taking a decent scalp or two before the year is out.

What do ye think of my bet with powers a few weeks back

Provincial SFC accumulator:

Kildare, Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry

1014/1

Pretty darn good odds i reckon!

I'd say Sligo and Antrim are sick of the sight of each other - they seem to have met a lot in recent times. I reckon home advantage may swing it for Antrim on Sunday - and reckon there will be a fair home crowd there too.

Sebastian wrote:What do ye think of my bet with powers a few weeks back

Provincial SFC accumulator:

Kildare, Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry

1014/1

Pretty darn good odds i reckon!

I'd be more than happy to give you even better odds if you like

Brian Boru wasn't a big fan of 1014 either.....A Mossbags type bet...

Sebastian wrote:What do ye think of my bet with powers a few weeks back

Provincial SFC accumulator:

Kildare, Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry

1014/1

Pretty darn good odds i reckon!

Darn good odds for a reason Seb!!

Can't see Sligo winning Connaught but the other three are all plausible. If I got a free bet on the Leinster I would stick it on Kildare meself tbh.

Sebastian wrote:What do ye think of my bet with powers a few weeks back

Provincial SFC accumulator:

Kildare, Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry

1014/1

Pretty darn good odds i reckon!

Kildare have peaked in 2009...downhill, nothing coming through.
Sligo and Monaghan both on the slide.
Kerry, on the other habd have every chance......

Just like to say hello to all . As lathair for a while due various reasons which ended with fracturing a few ribs in the ice . Just in time to claim the wooden spoon in the tipster competition. Roll on the league and championship.

Real Kerry Fan wrote:Just like to say hello to all . As lathair for a while due various reasons which ended with fracturing a few ribs in the ice . Just in time to claim the wooden spoon in the tipster competition. Roll on the league and championship.

How was the Wren hunting last year RKF?

Sebastian wrote:What do ye think of my bet with powers a few weeks back

Provincial SFC accumulator:

Kildare, Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry

1014/1

Pretty darn good odds i reckon!

With a different draw I'd say it was worth a punt, but not this year.

Sligo are always capable of doing over either Mayo or Galway, but both in one year is too much of an ask. And even if we somehow managed to knock both of the big dogs out, the lads' heads would have swollen to such enormous proportions that Leitrim or Roscommon would surely beat us in the final!

Lads and lasses,

I want to clarify this, I don't think there is much chance of all those teams winning, but it could pay for 4 more years of this college lark, so I reckon it was worth a punt at a tenner

Realistically, Mayo should have good year in Connacht, A rejuvenated Armagh may spring decent opposition to Tyrone in Ulster, Dublin will win Leinster and I really don't know what Kerry or Cork side will turn up n in Munster

But if i made a bet on them I'd probably make profit to the value of a Mr Freeze!

PS: God Bless Arthur Guinness and the Smirnoff clan! (AND FIREFOX SPELLCHECK!!)

Dubs only starting 5 that got hockeyed last time out v Kerry!

Stephen Cluxton
Ross O’Carroll Rory O’Carroll Philly McMahon
Paul Griffin (Capt) Cian O’Sullivan James McCarthy
Eamon Fennell Ross McConnell
Alan Hubbard Michael Darragh MacAuley Paul Flynn
David Henry Blaine Kelly Kevin McManamon

Henry in ff line!!! It'll either work or it won't!

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Dubs only starting 5 that got hockeyed last time out v Kerry!

Stephen Cluxton
Ross O’Carroll Rory O’Carroll Philly McMahon
Paul Griffin (Capt) Cian O’Sullivan James McCarthy
Eamon Fennell Ross McConnell
Alan Hubbard Michael Darragh MacAuley Paul Flynn
David Henry Blaine Kelly Kevin McManamon

Henry in ff line!!! It'll either work or it won't!

A real insight if ever I read one.