GAA: Allianz Football League Sunday match betting preview and tips

Best bets

Over 17.5 Tyrone points
3pts 6-5 Paddy Power

Galway -2
2pts 6-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Westmeath -1
2pts Evs BoyleSports

Kildare -3
3pts 4-5 Betway, BoyleSports

Sunday analysis

Tyrone v Meath

Omagh, 2pm Sunday

Tyrone have been beaten in both their first-round matches since returning to Division 1 in 2018, but those defeats were at the hands of Kerry and Galway and both were away from home.

This time around they are paddling in much shallower waters for their opening outing as they welcome recently-promoted Meath to Omagh and it ought to be as straightforward as prices of around 1-3 suggest.

Mickey Harte is once again at the helm, so there is some stability on that front, and Tyrone won a 12th McKenna Cup under his tenure a couple of weeks ago, when Frank Burns caught the eye.

Meath are going to find things tough at the top table, especially without their most reliable scoring forward Michael Newman, who is set to miss the majority of the campaign through injury.

Andy McEntee has handed a first competitive start to Duleek/Bellewstown clubman Robin Clarke and Ronan Ryan will start at centre-back. Four of the six starting backs for Meath ply their trade for intermediate clubs in the county and they could be in for a rude awakening.

The Tyrone attack has plenty of firepower and they are strongly fancied to score 18 points or more. They average 19.5 points in their last four games of last year's campaign against Monaghan, Cavan, Dublin and Galway.

Galway v Monaghan

Tuam, 2pm Sunday

Seamus McEnaney was a surprise appointment for Monaghan, given he already had one go at the job, and the Farney Army could suffer a Malachy O'Rourke hangover in the early rounds of the league.

Galway also have a new man at the helm, but Padraic Joyce has legendary status in the county for his exploits during his playing days and there is a real feelgood factor about his appointment.

There are some notable absentees from the starting 15 named by McEnaney, including ace attacker Conor McManus and All-Star Colin Walshe and Monaghan never look the same side without that pair.

Galway were criticised for their negativity under Kevin Walsh, so expect Joyce to adopt a more attacking approach which is likely to pose their visitors plenty of problems.

Recent form suggests Galway should be stronger favourites than they are and the absence of McManus and Walshe does not appear to have been factored enough into the prices.

Kildare v Fermanagh

Newbridge, 2pm Sunday

Jack O'Connor looks a good fit for Kildare but even more important is the return of their best forward Daniel Flynn and he can be the catalyst for a wide-margin win over Fermanagh.

The Ulster outfit look out of their depth in Division 2 and it is hard to see them keeping Flynn, Niall Kelly, Paddy Brophy, Neil Flynn and Paul Cribbin. A seriously strong starting 15 has been named by O'Connor and they should have far too much firepower for Fermanagh.

Westmeath v Clare

Mullingar, 2pm, Sunday

Westmeath might be without Kieran Martin due to a metatarsal injury, but they still have John Heslin and Callum McCormack in their full-forward line and are fancied to account for Clare, with home advantage expected to make the difference.

If Denis Corroon and Darren Giles can break even around midfield, it should present enough attacking opportunities for the hosts and the new advanced-mark rule looks tailor-made for the towering Heslin.

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