Whoever said we were good tipsters? The battle for the, er, wooden spoon of betting challenges continues apace this week, with Paddy marginally less crap than ourselves…
For the third week running we had an admirable none out of three winning selections last weekend. Hell, at least we’re consistent.
Paddy got one out of three right, showing good foresight to tip Portugal to beat the dreadful Dutch. Other than that it was slim pickings. And by slim we mean none. Here’s the running total:
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-€157.25 |
-€118 |
Anyway, hope springs eternal and we move swiftly on to this week’s picks, with Shane Breslin going head-to-head with Paddy this time around. Would you believe it, but we’ve picked exactly the same three games – Kilkenny-Dublin in the hurling and the Euro 2012 quarter-finals between Spain-France and England-Italy. Even more remarkably – or maybe not, given our approximate level of ineptitude so far – we both see them going in similar directions, but thankfully all three bets are slightly different so it should be interesting…
JOE’s picks:
Draw/Spain in the Half-time/Full-time market (7/2)
On all the evidence of this tournament Spain should have France’s measure in Saturday night’s big Euro 2012 quarter-final. The French have been more miss than hit in this tournament, culminating in being Ibra-ed by already eliminated Sweden the other night. They’ve had a typically French blow-out in the camp this week too. It could be tight for a while but we expect Spain to come through in the end, so the half-time/full-time market could be the best way to back the double European and world champions.
Richie Power to score a goal at any time and Kilkenny to win (2/1)
Kilkenny will beat Dublin on Sunday. I’m certain of that. And there has to be a fair chance Richie Power will score a goal too. Power was on fire in the league (he scored 1-11 twice, and tallied 3-49 in just five games) and this could be the year he becomes a household name even among non-hurling supporters.
England and Italy to draw after 90 minutes (21/10)
These two have played six games between them at this tournament, three of them have been 1-1 draws and it would have been four but for a blind goalline official between England-Ukraine. Neither side is any good, so they’ll both be afraid of each other. It has draw written all over it. Hell, it has penalties written all over it. So a shade over 2/1 for this one to go to extra-time does the job for us.
Paddy’s picks:
Kilkenny by 4-6 points v Dublin 4/1
The Hurling equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters Kilkenny make their first foray in to the championship this weekend against Dublin. It would take a brave punter to back Dublin but no team other than Tipperary has put it up to Kilkenny more in recent years. The tight confines of O’Moore Park will help Dublin keep the score down as will the absence of Michael Fennelly but we still think that the cats have enough to win by 4-6 points.
Both Teams to Score England v Italy 11/10
The understated tone of their media has made this English team somewhat likable, even on these shores, which is remarkable considering that it includes Terry, Cole and Rooney. England haven’t exactly looked solid at the back with Joe Hart saving them on many occasions while even Ireland looked as if they were capable of scoring against Italy! Mix in the inevitable drama that comes with an England knock-out fixture and both teams look certain to score.
Spain to win in 90 minutes v France 17/20
France were unlucky to draw with England and looked the business against Ukraine but fell back in to their old habits of underperforming and infighting against the Swedes. Despite France being the last side to defeat Spain in a knockout round of the competition way back in 2006 we think Xavi and Co. will have too much for them. But expect fireworks!
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