League of Ireland betting.

whiteshorts wrote: »

2 different people told me they were told to back a certain result in one of tonight's LOI matches!
Anybody else hear anything?

MonkstownHoop wrote: »

Rovers were only 2/1 when losing

Gavin shels wrote: »

League of Ireland Outright Bets

Myself and the lads in the Irish Football Betting Facebook group have all discussed the below bets and opinions. Been mulling over these for weeks while Paddy Power got their act together. There’s not straight outright bet this year, instead just a handicap one. Cork to win outright along with Sligo on the handicap was our potential bets up until PP gave lines, we were hoping for +18 on Sligo but they were only +10. We’ve opted to go with Cork +6 over a straight outright. Limerick to be relegated was another bet we wanted, but when odds came out at 5/2 we agreed it was too short for us. Cobh EW would be worth a tiny stake in the First Division, going to be a tight League this season but they may sneak up given the quality they’ve signed in midfield and their usual good home record.

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Cork City +6 points @ 9/1 (Paddy Power)

Last 2 season (Dundalk and Cork respectively) the Outright Handicap bet has won at 8/1, hopefully make it 3 this season.

Cork City have made the most of the close season sign several useful and skilled players most notably ex Ireland international Liam Miller and ex-player Alan Bennett (AFC Wimbledon) and Alan Smith. Karl Sheppard (Shamrock Rovers), Gavan Holohan (Drogheda United), Kieran Djilali (Limerick FC) and Alan Smith (Rangers) have all signed up giving Cork City some great depth within their squad. A few players left but only one was a major loss and that was Gearóid Morrissey who signed for Cambridge Utd. Gavan Holohan was Drogheda best player by far last year, similar player to Gearoid Morrisey. That will help cover his loss, as will signing Miller who again has senior caps, Champions league and premier league football. The depth they have at their disposable this season is what we believe will get them over the finish line this season with the trophy in hand.

A few points on this Cork City side;
10 of their 23 have won the league previously which will surely give them the needed experience to get over the line this season
They had the most clean sheets in the League last year, they've lost nobody defensively but added Alan Bennett to the defence who has previously won leagues and cups as well as senior Irish caps,
4 out of our 5 strikers are proven Premier division goalscorers, Karl Sheppard, John O’ Flynn, Mark O’Sullivan, and Danny Morrissey.
Once Cork start off well in the League and keep their momentum going, Turners Cross will become a fortress for them with big crowds and will be key in their title challenge again!

Dundalk, St. Pats and Shamrock Rovers look to be their biggest and possibly only title contenders.

Dundalk let a good few go but made some good replacements, Gary Rogers (Sligo) and Ronan Finn (Shamrock Rovers) being the big two, Richie Towell staying on was a huge boost for them as he looked all but likely to sign for an English side. Dundalk’s main concern this season will be scoring, Pat Hoban who racked up 20 goals last season has moved to Oxford and no striking replacement has been brought in so they’ll be banking on a lot of goals from their attacking midfielders. This is far from ideal.

St. Pats had a difficult enough League season and never really looked like challenging from the off, but they had a successful FAI Cup campaign. Liam Buckley will look to challenge in the League from the start this season! On paper they haven’t made any changes to their squad which will make them stronger; Ciaran Kilduff, Jason McGuinness and young goalkeeper Conor O’Malley have all signed from Shamrock Rovers while youngster Lee Desmond signed from Shelbourne. The big news for Pats was Keith Fahey moving to Rovers which is a big loss for them.

Shamrock Rovers will hope to improve on their poor season last season and aim higher than 4th. They’ve made a few big signings which is making them looking strong on paper. Keith Fahey (St Pats), Danny North (Sligo Rovers), Gavin Brennan (Drogheda Utd), David Webster (Bray Wndrs), Brandon Miele (Bluebell) and Mikey Drennan (Aston Villa). A few unknown quantities but potential.

On paper Cork and Dundalk look the strongest again this year but Cork have the depth while Dundalk could struggle on front of goal. Cork will be wounded from their final game of the season loss to Dundalk and losing out on the title. 9/1 looks a great price on the handicap, we did discuss Cork Outright at 5/1 but felt the handicap was a better bet!

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Dinny Corcoran Top Goalscorer Each Way @ 16/1 (Paddy Power)

Owen Heary has made his mark so far with Sligo and will thrive on this challenge. Heary will have his side match fit with no less than 6 friendlies this pre-season, 5 of which have been played. 5 wins from 5 friendlies, granted against some non-League opposition and 1st Division sides but they’ve supposedly played some good football, scored a lot of goals and managed to impress. 32 goals scored and just 3 conceded.

Heary had the pick of the crop from Bohs when he left close season, with this he brought over 4 players. Kevin Devaney, Steven Beattie, Dinny Corcoran and Eoin Wearen. All 4 featured a lot for Bohs last season with Corcoran being their top goalscorer and Wearen was hotly tipped to make a return to England over the close season with Sheffield Utd being the most likely destination but he chose to stay in Ireland.

Sligo, who we fancy to have a decent season this year, in an attacking sense anyway, have scored 33 goals in preseason with Dinny chipping in with 9 of them. Alan seen Sligo play against Waterford Utd, Dinny seems to be the main striker, and with two quick lively wingers in Puri and Wearen and the creativity of Keith Ward. We feel he could be laid on enough times to get into a paying position of top 4 goalscorers. Last season Dinny notched 13 League goals for a struggling Bohs side, he was 5th highest scorer in the League (two of the higher placed have since signed across the water), so in an attacking side like Sligo we'd expect him to continue and possibly better that tally this season. Dinny will be playing under a manager who gets the best out of him, last year under Heary was his career best tally. Possibility Dinny may be the penalty taker as well on occasions.

Dundalk, Rovers and Cork have no real poacher up front and will see goals coming from everywhere. Pats have Fagan but we can see more from the midfield coming this season.

Cork City’s pre-season preparations continue on Tuesday night, as they face Malahide United.

City will spend the next few days on a training camp, which will see them play tomorrow night’s friendly fixture against the Leinster Senior League side and then face Drogheda United on Thursday night.

Speaking ahead of the game, City boss John Caulfield gave CorkCityFC.ie an update on the status of his squad: “Everyone is fit bar John Kavanagh, but we probably won’t risk Johnny Dunleavy and Danny Morrissey who are coming back from knocks. Colin Healy has been a bit under the weather, so he won’t be involved either. Kyle McLeod, who is in on trial and scored on Friday, will be travelling with us and so will Craig Donnellan, who has been promoted from the 19s.”

“We plan to be very strong, and we plan to give everyone a run. It’s an important week for us, we have intense training days and two matches, so it is important that all the lads get game time as well. It’s all about team bonding, fitness, working on our shape and obviously playing a couple of games, so we are hoping it will be a very positive week for us.”

“Malahide are a fantastic club with fantastic facilities and great pitches, so we are looking forward to playing there. I think we will have a tough test against Malahide, who are well into their season and also from Drogheda on Thursday night.”

Use our Audio Player (Adobe flash required) to play the full interview with John.