More On The Line For Rebels Vs Waterford

Any other result than a win for Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final against Waterford in Thurles will be a disaster for Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s side.

On Leeside, serious questions will be raised by the public and local media if the Leesiders do not perform adequately and advance to contest the provincial decider with Tipperary and Limerick on the other side of the draw.

And BoyleSports’ odds-compilers have correctly factored that into their calculations with the Rebels 8/13 to post a match-winning total on the Semple Stadium scoreboard.

Cork lost the NHL Division 1 final to the same opposition by no less than 10 points just five weeks ago (1-24 to 0-17) at the same venue.

Actually, Derek McGrath’s Déise side could have won by an even more jaw-dropping margin if they were cooler in front of Anthony Nash’s goalposts.

However, Waterford are without the outstanding Pauric Mahony for the foreseeable future and Cork could profit in his absence.
The centre-forward pilfered a tally of 0-11 including eight frees and a 65 in the aforementioned showpiece and the Déise are not in a position to be anywhere near as strong offensively without him.

Team selections

Cork have named Seamus Harnedy in the pivotal No 11 role but the reality is the St Ita’s clubman is far from fully-fit and may actually start the game on the bench yet.

Word is he will still have a very late fitness test to assess if he is genuinely ready for battle from the get-go.
Of course, the news all week has regarded Brian Murphy’s inclusion in Cork’s defence and he will add required experience in that sector.

Brian O’Halloran, meanwhile, has been pencilled in by McGrath to replace Mahony as Waterford seek attacking balance in Thurles.

Recommended Bets

It is unlikely that whichever side wins this clash will go on to lift Munster final-day silverware as Tipp are rightly fancied to prevail in the southern province.

However, that is for another day and all Cork and Waterford will be concerned about at present is reaching the point where the trophy is directly on the line in the first place.

With the greatest of hesitations, JBM’s soldiers get a tentative vote to prevail as a significantly enhanced performance is forthcoming from them if word from inside of the camp is to be believed.

The question is: Are the Rebels value at 8/13 to win? The short answer is, not particularly.

Cork simply have not produced enough consistency in recent times to justify the odds available about the Rebels beating a group that hammered them on May 3.

Nevertheless, with Luke O’Farrell back in at full-forward Cork are more of a goal-threat and the Midleton clubman should be backed at 21/10 to raise a green flag at any point in the game.

Additionally, O’Farrell is also overpriced with BoyleSports to score the first major of the contest at 10/1. That is a particularly enticing price for a man with an eye for goal.

Selections:
Luke O’Farrell Anytime Goalscorer @ 21/10
Luke O’Farrell First Goalscorer @ 10/1