Who said never trust a Student with money?

Fri. 7 July
Bohemians v Derry City
El Punter's followers are now doubtless brimming with as much cash as the Gypsies have optimism following last weekend's successful punt on the De Boez. Farrelly's men - with three good results on the bounce - now face a Derry team which stuck four goals past Drogheda on Tuesday night.

The win over a slightly depleted Drogs side is just the response the Brandywell faithful wanted following their upset at Sligo last weekend. Kenny's presence at Dalymount is sure to add a dash more piquancy to the encounter - and this is the game your roving bookiebasher will be taking in tonight.

Bohs looked pretty sharp in the first half against Cobh midweek - I don't know whether it was just coincidental but they were pretty lifeless after Farrelly left the field with a head injury.

Now in the last four of the cup and unbeaten in three games, I wonder if the Bohs fans will think about turning their flags the right way around soon in a show of support for the Farrelly regime?

I'm opting for a score draw here, with Bohs fans to be heartened by a solid performance.

Bohs 9/4
Draw 2/1
Derry 11/10


Drogheda United v St. Patrick's Athletic
Eamon Zayed gets to make his debut against the Supersaints tonight in another eyecatching clash. Ol' Eamo looked to be headed for a bottom two finish this year (note my clever way of avoiding mentioning relegation) now he could end up with a league winners medal.

Much of that destiny is in his own boots however, and he will need to bang in 15 plus goals from here on in to be part of a championship winning team.

Pats win over Sligo was a super tonic following their worst performance of the season when outclassed by Shels. The Molloy-Keegan axis will look forward to pitting themseleves against the league's meanest defence - it's notable than Jason Gavin didn't play when the Drogs shipped four midweek.

A cracking tie, Drogs 1-0 yet again?

Drogheda 10/11
Draw 11/5
St Pats 13/5




Sligo Rovers v Dublin City

Sean Connor's men should be well able for the Viking's visit - only Drogheda, Shels and Pats have escaped from the Showgrounds with a point this season. With Paul McTiernan and Darren Mansaram in fine form, I can only see this match going one way. City's defence is more flooded than leaky at the moment having conceded two or more goals in each of their last five games.

Having said that, Keely's side are not without their charms and looked reasonably threatening against Longford, but this is too much an ask for the visitors.

4/5 Sligo Rovers
11/5 Draw
3/1 Dublin City


Sat. 8 July
Longford Town v Cork City

Trouble int'camp down Turner's Cross way. Rico has resorted to Blair-isms to explain the George O'Callaghan speculation - 'Back to Basics' being the line from the verbose boss. Rico needed to sign some players before he could start plucking his stars from the sky and bring them crashing to an earthly bench, so we could well see Brian O'Callaghan and Cathal Lordan in action. Having toiled against both Bohs and UCD, Cork are a risky betting proposition at the moment.

Longford find themselves in an unprecedented purple patch of goals having netted twice in consecutive games. Admittedly it was against some of the division's more obliging defences in Dublin City and UCD. The champions will not be so generous and Longford will need to keep a clean sheet to take anything from this game.

13/5 Longford
11/5 Draw
10/11 Cork


Sun. 9 July
Bray Wanderers v U.C.D.

If you can manage to hold on to the heavy artillery in the betting bank until Sunday afternoon, it is time to unload a semiseismic punt on the Students. Bray are poor at the best of times this season. Now they are without their (arguably) two most talented players as Wesley Charles is suspended and Eamon Zayed is on the Dart out of there.

UCD beat a better Bray team than this 4-1 in April, and modest though the Belfield talents may be I think they are a class above the Seasiders and are the bet of the weekend.


13/8 Bray
2/1 Draw
6/4 UCD



League Cup Betting

With the draw for the semis to be made tonight, the odds at this stage see Shels as market leaders ahead of Derry. Bohs and Limerick must be getting very excited at the thought of sneaking in to the Setanta Cup by winning just two more games.

4/5 Shels
13/8 Derry
4/1 Bohemians
10/1 Limerick



Race To The Top Half

Bohs apparent resurgence coupled with Sligo getting tonked at Inchicore sees the Gypsies harden in the betting for this fiveway race - despite the Bit o' Red holding pole position at the moment.

Four points in two games from Longford with a couple of games in hand means Matthew's men are not to be discounted yet.

5/4 Bohs
6/4 Sligo
7/2 Longford
8/1 UCD
14/1 Dublin City