Gaelic Football predictions and betting tips: Expect a dominant Donegal display

Free GAA football tips, best bets and match previews for this weekend's All-Ireland Championship fixtures.

Best bets

Donegal -4
5pts 4-5 Paddy Power

Donegal -9
1pt 11-4 BoyleSports

Kerry over 2.5 goals
2pts 6-4 BoyleSports

Galway -14
3pts 10-11 Paddy Power

Cavan v Donegal

RTE2 & BBC Sport NI, 4pm Sunday

The pain of losing the 2020 Ulster final to Cavan can help propel Donegal to another provincial decider at the expense of the Breffni boys.

There were mixed messages coming from the Donegal camp ahead of their opener against Armagh, but a seven-point victory (1-16 to 0-12) told us everything we needed to know about Declan Bonner's charges and their wellbeing. They are a well-oiled machine who could make a mockery of Paddy Power's four-point handicap. Indeed, the margin of victory could be far more convincing.

Michael Murphy, approaching his 33rd birthday, looked back to his old self and kicked six points, while Jason McGee's high fielding was outstanding. Any time Armagh went long with their kick-outs, the towering McGee was underneath them.

Donegal's pace and power penetrated the Armagh defence time and again and it is hard to see how Cavan can get any closer to them on the scoreboard than Armagh did, especially since the superb Odhran McFadden-Ferry can return to the side after serving a one-match suspension.

Paddy Lynch has injected real scoring power into the Cavan attack and his rich vein of form continued with eight points in the landslide success over Antrim, but he is likely to have Brendan McCole shadowing him in Clones and he has managed to keep Ciaran Kilkenny, Rian O’Neill and Daniel Flynn all scoreless this year.

Cavan owned the ball against Antrim but they could struggle for possession against Donegal, who will be out for revenge after what happened in 2020 when they were strong favourites for a provincial title.

Cavan plied their trade in Division 4 of the league earlier this year, a tier they just about won, whereas Donegal were joint-third in Division 1 after accumulating seven points, which included wins over Tyrone, Kildare and Armagh.

The current gulf in class between the two teams is not reflected by a four-point handicap. Things ought to be far more straightforward for Donegal than that line suggests and they could power their way to an Ulster final date with either Derry or Monaghan.

Cork v Kerry

Sky Sports Arena, 6pm Saturday

Cork's smash and grab raid in the 2020 Munster semi-final, when a last-gasp Mark Keane goal sealed a sensational victory, is now a distant memory as there is now a gigantic gulf in class between the superpowers of the province.

The Rebels just about managed to keep their heads above water in Division 2, despite conceding 3-22 to Galway, 1-18 to Meath and 1-20 to Offaly. They are missing some big names but don't expect Kerry to be in sympathetic mood. It could get ugly at Pairc Ui Rinn.

The best bet on the coupon is for Kerry to score three or more goals at 6-4. They scored three against Mayo in the league final - and could have got six or seven had they been more clinical - while they netted two against Tyrone in round seven and three against Monaghan in round four.

Their preference for long kick-passing rather than working it through the hands allows them to get in behind defences more often than any other side and it is hard to envisage them not creating at least six or seven goal opportunities against a fragile Cork defence.

Galway v Leitrim

3.30pm Sunday

Leitrim coughed up 2-16 to Sligo in their final outing in Division 4 of the league, ultimately costing them a six-point loss, while they conceded 2-11 to London in their Connacht opener so Galway could rack up a huge tally in their provincial semi-final showdown at Pearse Stadium.

It certainly wasn't straightforward for Leitrim in London. There was just a single point between the sides heading into injury-time before Ryan O'Rourke sealed the spoils late on with his second goal of the game.

Galway were hanging on by their fingernails at the death in their Connacht clash with arch rivals Mayo but they were by far the better side for an hour of that outing and were six points in front midway through the second half.

That victory over one of the big teams ought to do wonders for the Galway camp and the Tribesmen are always at their most dangerous when confidence is high. A huge win over Leitrim looks in the offing and the 14-point handicap should be surpassed with something to spare.

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