Weekend hurling predictions and GAA betting tips: Waterford a treacherous opponent for wounded Cork

Best bets

Dublin
3pts 7-4 BoyleSports

Waterford +6
3pts Evens BoyleSports

Waterford
1pt 5-1 BoyleSports

Under 1.5 Cork goals
2pts 5-2 Paddy Power

Hurling Championship predictions

Dublin vs Galway predictions

RTE, 2pm Sunday

With plenty of dead rubbers in the last round of provincial matters, it's better to focus on games of consequence in search of wagers and this is a de facto Leinster semi-final.

It's hard to know what to make of this current Galway team. They put in an abject display against Kilkenny in the opening round and it's difficult to decide whether they've bounced back to any meaningful extent.

They put in an encouraging performance against Wexford in round two when Cathal Mannion ran riot having been left virtually unmarked for large parts. But Wexford have largely underperformed this year, illustrated by last week's lacklustre display against Offaly when a last-minute goal was required.

Last week, Galway destroyed Antrim by 28 points but everyone is destroying Antrim at the moment so don't read much into that.

On balance, the jury is still out on them, but Dublin have made clear strides this year under Niall O'Ceallachain. This is best evidenced by their encounter with Kilkenny at Nowlan Park last weekend. It threatened to descend into a humiliation for the visitors when they were trailing by 14 at half-time after conceding some scarcely believable soft goals but they staged a spirited fight back to nearly nick it at the end.

They showed something different to Dublin teams of recent years and their ability to flourish under direct deliveries could cause their opponents serious problems. They beat Galway convincingly in the championship last year and they are definitely in better shape this time around, while you can't say the same about Galway. This looks a 50-50 game - or if pushed I might even make Dublin slight favourites - so 7-4 looks huge.

Cork vs Waterford predictions

RTE, 4pm Sunday

The hype train in the Rebel county hit a serious snag last weekend as Limerick absolutely annihilated them on every blade of grass in the Gaelic Grounds, romping to a 16-point victory.

There's no doubt Cork are significant All-Ireland contenders but when you strip the hype and look at their championship form, holes are apparent. They blew a huge lead to a Clare side who have been completely out of sorts in round one, were reasonably impressive in beating a 14-man Tipperary in round two, before receiving a serious trouncing off Limerick.

The psychological recovery required to get over such a beating won't be an issue for such an experienced side but are they as far ahead of the likes of Waterford as they have been made out to be? This is a serious potential banana skin for Pat Ryan's men.

Waterford were impressive in defeating Clare in their opening game before a decent performance against Limerick when beaten by six points, albeit they never looked like troubling them. Last week's loss to Tipperary was a real blow as, despite eventually losing by nine, they could have been right there at the end if their shooting was anywhere close to average.

Cork rely on goals and Waterford don't give them up having conceded just one in their three games, but their attack hasn't really caught fire yet. They have the personnel up front, however, and a big performance has to be forthcoming from the Deise, who are underrated on the handicap and to even win the match.

Click here to read David Jennings' weekend Gaelic football predictions

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