Gaelic football predictions and betting tips: Kildare to continue winning run

Free GAA football tips, Armagh v Kildare predictions and best bets for this weekend's Allianz Football League fixtures.

Best Bets

Kildare
2pts 2-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

Over 30.5 points in Armagh v Kildare
3pts 10-11 BoyleSports

Kerry -2
3pts 5-6 BoyleSports

Over 28.5 points in Donegal v Monaghan
4pts Evs BoyleSports

Armagh v Kildare

BBC iPlayer & BBC Sport NI website, 6pm Saturday

Kildare have banked only three points from four games in Division One but their performances have merited more than that.

They drew with favourites Kerry in round one, dominated against All-Ireland champions Tyrone but fell victim to a late surge in round three and beat Dublin in round four. Their only below-par display arrived in Ballybofey when they lost to Donegal by five points.

They deserve to have six points out of eight on the board, but that does not seem to be factored into their price against Armagh in round five. The 2-1 on offer is certainly worth snapping up.

Glen Ryan has had an immediate impact on his native county and the slickness with which they moved the ball against Dublin last time was very easy on the eye.

That 1-12 to 0-12 win was their first success over the Dubs in league or championship competition for 22 years and is sure to inject confidence into their veins. They are the up-and-coming side in Leinster and in Jimmy Hyland and Daniel Flynn they have a pair of inside forwards capable of causing the Armagh full-back line all sorts of problems.

That pair contributed 1-8 of the 1-12 against Dublin and they could do similar damage to Armagh.

Ryan could now bring Kevin Feely back into the mix in midfield and that is another boost to a Kildare side who should be looking up rather than down in the Division One table.

The weather conditions have been brutal for the last few rounds of the league and the knock-on effect of that is the total points markets are quite low for round five.

You can get 10-11 about 31 points or more in this encounter and that looks like cracking value. Armagh's style of play, with constant positional changes, can leave them open at the back at times and the Lilywhites could exploit that tactic.

There were 41 points in Armagh's opener against Dublin and 34 in their round two win over Tyrone. It would be foolish to read too much into the total points for their last two clashes with Monaghan and Mayo and the first two outings are much better indicators.

Kerry v Mayo

RTE2, 7.30pm Saturday

The only two remaining unbeaten sides in the top division take each other on at Austin Stack Park as Kerry welcome Mayo and the home side look terrific value at a shade of odds on to defy a two-point handicap.

Mayo are a shade fortunate to be unbeaten as Donegal, Monaghan and Armagh were all made to rue golden opportunities and all traded very short in-running in those games. James Horan's charges somehow managed to escape unscathed, but their luck could come to an end in round five.

Kerry have been demolishing sides. They were eight points too good for Monaghan, nine too good for Donegal and there were seven points in it at the end in their impressive victory over Dublin.

Sean O'Shea and David and Paudie Clifford have hit the ground running and it is hard to envisage anything other than a straightforward home success once again.

Donegal v Monaghan

TG4, 1.45pm Sunday

There was a total of 38 points scored in Monaghan's most recent outing in division one, their eight-point loss to Kerry, yet you can get evens that the total points will be over 28.5 in their Ballybofey battle with Donegal. That's a smashing price.

This Monaghan side seem to relish open, high-scoring encounters where teams go point for point, and it would be no surprise to see a score-fest in Ballybofey.

Two of Monaghan's last three games have had totals of 30 points and 38 points.

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