Stephen Walsh's Betting Column (13th March 2017) - UPDATED

Sadly our third time lucky omen didn’t shine through on Friday night as Shamrock Rovers decided to spoil the bet losing by the bare minimum to Derry City in Tallaght Stadium. So we return with renewed energy after much encouragement from the hierarchy in Extratime.ie HQ (who cursed the result last week with an early tweet), or at least that is what they admitted online.

Again the Blood Bikes south will be the charity to benefit if we can go one step further than last Friday.

With no First Division fixtures to choose from we will be doing the treble based on only Premier Division games. Similar to previous weeks all odds will be from Paddy Power.

First up in the accumulator will be a Shamrock Rovers win at 5/6. Their operation fortress strategy didn’t go to plan last week but I would expect them to bounce back from the defeat to beat a Galway United side that got their first point of the season last Friday drawing to Finn Harps.

A lack of a cutting edge in the final third proved costly for Rovers last Friday but it is fair to say that Galway United haven’t exactly been prolific in front of goal with one goal so far garnered in their three games.

Next up will be Cork City. They look an unbackable 1/6 favourites for this clash with little value to be gained. Sligo in comparison is a massive 14/1 at the time of writing. However looking at the current Cork City team which will likely have Sean Maguire up front as he is expected to pass a fitness test virtually guarantees the side a goal such has been his form of late. Outside of that you have got Connor Ellis who has found the net in the past two games.

However, one must be aware that Sligo are a bit of a bogey team for the Rebel Army with John Caulfield’s men failing to claim the three points against them last season. This season the home side look a more driven and focused side so the likelihood of an upset is greatly reduced as Dave Robertson’s men appear to be struggling in the defensive department so far this season.

Lastly Bray Wanderers -1 at 17/10 will be the next pick. This will have the largest odds of the night but I think that Bray Wanderers will be able to pull it off. They were many people’s banker of the week on Friday when they lost to Bohemians but one would expect Harry Kenny’s men to bounce back. So far this season Bray has looked impressive going forward but in the last two games they have shown defensive frailties. These should be well ironed out for the game tomorrow night.

Drogheda United suffered their first loss of the year to Cork City at home and they know that tonight Bray are the type of game they will need to get something from as they go about defying people’s expectations in beating the drop this season. They battled well against Cork but were opened up with the pace of the attack and in Dylan Connolly and Anto Flood Bray have two players who will be hoping to get their name on the score sheet if they want to keep up their goal of reaching the European places at the end of the season.

Bets:

Cork City -1 4/6                                                       

Shamrock Rovers 5/6

Bray Wanderers -1 17/10

Paddy Power Enhanced Bet: 15/2

€5 stake= €42.50