Weekend Gaelic football predictions and GAA betting tips: Improving Tyrone fancied to defy handicap in Ulster showdown

Best bets

Fermanagh +7
1pt Evs Paddy Power

Fermanagh to score over 12.5 points
1pt 10-11 Paddy Power

Tyrone -2
5pts 10-11 Sky Bet

Weekend Gaelic football predictions

Fermanagh v Derry

BBC Sport NI, 5pm Saturday

It is certainly not ideal for Derry to be entering the Ulster championship following such a demoralising defeat to Dublin at Croke Park in the Division 2 decider and they could be a bit vulnerable away to Fermanagh. 

Brewster Park has never been an easy place to go in Ulster and Fermanagh could pose more problems than the betting suggests. 

The seven-point handicap looks generous and taking Fermanagh with that big start looks the bet. They were poor in the second half of the Division 3 decider but they had beaten Cavan in the final round-robin game to win promotion. Expect them to cause a few headaches to Derry here. 

Tyrone v Monaghan 

RTE2/BBC Sport NI, 4pm Sunday

No team finished the league stronger than Tyrone who beat Kerry, Monaghan and Armagh in their final three Division 1 outings to almost nick a spot in the decider. That was some achievement given relegation looked the most likely endgame after they were mauled by Mayo in round four. 

The 1-15 to 2-9 success over the All-Ireland champions may just have been a turning point for Tyrone. Everything seems to be falling nicely into place for them with Ronan McNamee winning his fitness battle and lining out at full-back and the lively Darragh Canavan also recovering from injury to take his starting spot.

McNamee will probably be assigned marking duties on Jack McCarron and that will be where the game is won or lost for Tyrone. 

This Monaghan team had a stale look at various stages of the league, whereas Tyrone look rejuvenated after a terrible 2022. If they are the All-Ireland contenders they appear to be, they would want to be winning this emphatically. 

A shade of odds-against for the hosts to defy a two-point handicap is terrific value and worth snapping up. It would come as no surprise to see them win by a wide margin. 

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