Weekend football predictions and GAA betting tips: Armagh poised to fulfil early potential

Best bets

Tyrone -1
2pts 7-2 Paddy Power

Armagh -1
5pts 4-6 Paddy Power 

Armagh to score over 17.5 points
4pts Evs Ladbrokes, Paddy Power 

Armagh to score over 1.5 goals
2pts 9-4 Paddy Power 

Armagh to score over 2.5 goals
1pt 15-2 Paddy Power

Second half to be highest scoring half in Cork v Derry
2pts 10-11 Boylesports

Mayo -1
2pts 11-4 Boylesports

Weekend football predictions

Kerry v Tyrone

3.45pm Saturday  - GAAGO

The last two All-Ireland winners meet in the first quarter-final at Croke Park, where holders Kerry are generally 4-9 to get the job done in 70 minutes. Backing Jack O'Connor's Jekyll and Hyde merchants at that sort of price doesn't appeal at all and it would be no surprise if they were beaten. 

If David Clifford had been taken out of the equation, Kerry may well have struggled against Cork and they were stuffed by Mayo. 

Clifford has been the one reliable force up front for Kerry and he will no doubt have a big influence on proceedings again. He is unstoppable, no matter what Tyrone throw at him, but he can't keep carrying them. 

Tyrone were a few inches away from making their exit at the hands of Westmeath a few weeks ago but a last-gasp John Heslin free edged the wrong side of the post and they were let off the hook. 

There is no better county than Tyrone at making the most of good luck, as they proved when winning their most recent All-Irelands through the back door, and they looked a completely different side when disposing of Donegal at Ballybofey last weekend. 

Darragh Canavan has been awesome over the last few months and now younger brother Ruari has been named in the starting team too. He is the joker in the pack and looks sure to give Tyrone an extra dimension up front. 

Darren McCurry is a wizard and Matty Donnelly has been there and bought plenty of T-shirts. There is a beautiful balance of youth and experience in this Tyrone team. 

The biggest selling point for backing Tyrone to win by two points or more at a very generous 7-2 is the pairing of Conn Kilpatrick and Brian Kennedy at midfield. They could dominate the airways, an area Kerry where have been really struggling of late. 

Maybe Kerry's class will shine through, but the market looks all wrong and if Tyrone can get over this hurdle they could go all the way.

Armagh v Monaghan

6pm Saturday  - GAAGO

Monaghan are the weakest link left in this gameshow and this is likely to be where we say goodbye to the Farney army. 

Any of the other seven counties remaining in the race would be faniced to beat Monaghan, and Armagh could treat them with real disdain. This could get ugly. 

Courage gets you only so far, and this is the stage of the competition where class comes to the fore - Monaghan are not in the same league as Kieran McGeeney's men. 

Kildare had the chance to bury Monaghan in the second half last Saturday but they let them creep back into contention and didn't seal the deal when they were on top. They were the better side but didn't win and Monaghan deserve great credit for that. 

But Monaghan are going to Croke Park following an eight-point Ulster loss to Derry and a two-pointy defeat to Donegal which should have been more. They have only won three of their six games to get here and two of those were against Clare and Kildare. 

Armagh are genuine All-Ireland contenders and this is where they can prove just that. Croke Park is made for them and welcoming Rian O'Neill back into the fold gives them the scoring power they need. 

Armagh can finally start their six best forwards - Duffy, Grugan, Campbell, Turbitt, O'Neill and Murnin - and it's hard to see how a fragile Monaghan defence, which conceded 1-18 to Clare and 0-19 to Donegal, will keep all six at bay. 

The 4-6 about Armagh winning by two points or more is the safest play of the weekend, which can be augmented by backing them to score 18 points, scoring two or more goals and three or more goals. This could be one-way traffic. 

Cork v Derry

1.45pm Sunday - RTE

Derry are the banker on the quarter-final coupon for most punters and the skinniest favourites of the entire weekend at 4-11.

That price doesn't look tempting, and nor does the three-point handicap, but one bet which does appeal is for the second half to be the highest scoring half at a shade of odds-on. 

There were 11 points in total before the break in Cork's shock win over Mayo, but 20 points after it. It was a similar story last weekend against Roscommon where there were only 13 first-half points, but 20 in the second. 

Derry have been strong in the second half of their games too and scored 0-13 after the break to beat Clare in their most recent outing. They scored 1-6 before the break. 

This could be very cagey indeed in the opening 35 minutes but it will have to open up at some stage and 10-11 about more second-half points looks the right play.

Dublin v Mayo

4pm Sunday - RTE

The latest instalment of Dublin and Mayo is sure to be another blockbuster and the underdogs look terrific value. 

Dublin are All-Ireland favourites but haven't impressed at all against the better sides in 2023. 

They stumbled over Kildare in the league and didn't impress against them in the championship either, while they only drew with Roscommon in the opening round of the All-Ireland series and could easily have been beaten. 

It's unwise to read too much into their massive wins over Louth and Sligo as they will always embarrass lower-tier sides. 

This Mayo team proved themselves against Galway away in Salthill last weekend and Dublin is the perfect draw for them. They have been tested on umpteen occasions this year, while Dublin are coming in cold following a landslide Sligo success. 

If Kevin McStay can get his match-ups right and quell the influence of Brian Fenton and Con O'Callaghan, Mayo might just do it. They are much too big a price anyway. 

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