GAA Football predictions & betting tips: Improving Meath look value

Free GAA football tips, best bets and match previews for this weekend's Allianz Football League fixtures.

Best bets

Mayo
2pts 6-5 BoyleSports

Meath
4pts 5-6 general

Meath -3
2pts 9-4 Paddy Power

Tyrone v Mayo

RTE2, 5.45pm Saturday

Mayo have probably been the most consistent side in Division 1 and were unlucky to surrender their unbeaten record in Kerry last Saturday night.

They were the better side for long periods there and James Horan seems to have injected yet another new lease of life into his troops this term.

Getting possession into their inside forwards has never been a problem given the calibre of players Mayo have around the middle third, so it was encouraging to see Fergal Boland, Aidan Orme and Ryan O’Donoghue perform so well up front against Kerry.

Tyrone have been pretty poor throughout the campaign and don't deserve to be favourites. The visitors look by far better value.

Clare v Meath

2pm Sunday

After some woeful displays early on in the campaign, Meath might just have turned a corner and they look significantly overpriced to take maximum points from their trip to Clare.

It has been quite a while since Meath racked up a score like 1-18 in any game and, while goalkeeper Harry Hogan was responsible for five of those points via frees against Cork, there was plenty to like about the way the Royals moved the ball and ran at their opponents.

Bryan Menton's return to the side, forming a powerful midfield partnership with Ronan Jones, means Meath now have a platform for their attacks and the Royals can dominate the middle sector.

James McEntee, Eamon Wallace and Bryan McMahon were all introduced as substitutes in the win over Cork and Meath now have a bit of strength in depth to their panel.

Manager Andy McEntee has had to survive a few sticky moments this year, but it is all starting to come together and a win in Clare is a must given relegation is still very much a possibility.

There are those who will argue it is foolish to read too much into that Meath victory over Cork, given how poor the Rebels have been, but they had ten different scorers and there was finally a pattern to their play. It was very easy on the eye at times.

Clare are coming into the game after tscoring a paltry 1-5 in their defeat to Galway and they managed only 0-10 in their nine-point loss to Derry in their last home encounter.

This should be a relatively straightforward assignment for Meath so back them straight at 5-6 and it could be worth taking 9-4 about them winning by four points or more as well.

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