Cork vs St Pats - A Betting Preview

In what is both clubs second Setanta sports cup outing St Pats make the long journey to Turners Cross to take on a Cork City side still reeling from their opening day defeat at the hands of Waterford

According to all accounts City were off form on Friday night.They didnt seem to really want it - but having said that it was a game they could have easily ended up winning 1 nil. This years City team has for me something to prove, After winning the title in 2005 a loss of key players and a champions league campaign damaged the club and stretched the squad to its limits.

While its fair to say they were never really in the title race last year they did finish the season strongly and were only a meagre 6 points behind eventual winners and runners up Shels and Derry. The also boasted the best defense in the league. Whether that defensive togetherness can be maintained this season remains to be seen - the leagues best left back has left the club (and the league) and Alan Bennett has also moved on the bigger things. It looks like Kelly and Ryan are going to be the players entrusted with filling those gaps - Ryan wasnt a star performer on Friday night but having seen him play a fair bit over the last 12- 16 months I do feel that once he finds his feet he will do a solid job. Kelly did impress on Friday night so the signs are promising that City will be able to keep it tight at the back this season.

Further up field Kearney has returned to his homeland and his relationship with Rico seems to be ok - for the moment at least. Infact City might well arguably have the strongest midfield in the country - Gamble is a tremendous player who Im amazed has not been snapped up by a Premiership or Championship side. OBrien and Woods are also solid dependable characters with experience. Cork scored a staggering 23 goals less than Champions Shelbourne last year and unless they can improve on that they will find it hard to be challenging for silverware. A fit OFlynn would probably be all thats required - add in ODonovan and Cork have potentially a very strong front line - even if ODonovan is probably of more use out wide.

Pats season last year was full of fits and starts. While their fans bemoaned their performances I happen to believe that given the players they had they did ok. In the end they finished in seventh place and reached the cup final. The squad has been strengthened in the close season - the most notable addition being Ndo - but Kirby. ONeill and Arkins are also experienced players.

A lot of people are tipping Pats as the dark horses this season. I will personally be amazed if they manage to finish in the top four - I dont honestly think they have the squad to finish better than that and unless ODonnell is capable of getting all the players to overperform I think the best they can hope for is 5th place and maybe some adventures in the cup competitions

Pats got their season of to start with a win away to Longford on Saturday night - the score was 2-1 in their favour - and if Im honest both teams could easily have had a few more goals. I have a feeling that unless things improve rapidly with Longfords that they will really struggle this season. So while Pats could have scored another few I think that has more to do with the poorness of Longford than the prowess of Pats. As well as that they looked extremely shaky at the back on a number of occasions. With Ndo in the team they will always have that something a bit special but its going take time for him to settle in with his new mates - plus I think its important to note that while he was easily the leagues best player last season he was playing in a team a lot better than than he is in this season

I fancy Cork to get their seasons first win tonight. Their home form over the last 2 or 3 years has been excellent and all things considered they are a better outfit than Pats. Pats have also had to contend with 2 games in the space of 3 days - Saturday away to longford and Monday away to cork. Not much rest time there. There is going to be a big crowd at the cross for Cork - its their first home league game of the season and its going to be close to a sell out

Sporting Odds have a Cork win at 2.10 - I feel thats very good value - corks home record is excellent and were it not for them losing and pats winning their respective first league games we would have been seeing a price closer to 1.75. Also if we were just using the raw stats from the last two full seasons 1.85 - 1.90 would be the best we could have hoped for - so I cant and wont turn down 2.10. Still just small stakes though as its early in the season and real form has yet to be determined


Cork City vs St Pats - March 12th - Setanta Sports Cup - Live on Setanta at 20.05 local time

Taken from
http://www.extremepicks.info/v1/Corn......ID=34&ID=31
http://myirishfootballblog.blogspot.com/

cheers for the write up, agree price opportunity on cork compared to what it might normally be expected to be for a home game for City, but Pats have done enough in cork in recent seasons (0-1, 0-0), and started well enough this season to make this a "no bet" for me.