Galway United v Bray Wanderers Terryland Park, Friday, 12th of March  19.45 pm

Galway United got their season off to a poor start away against St.Pats as they lost 2-0 and had midfielder Stephen O’Donnell sent off within 17 minutes, however, they should fare a lot better against a Bray side who narrowly lost against Dundalk on the first day of the season thanks to a last minute goal from Garry Breen. Galway will be hoping their home form can help them succeed this season, or they may face the prospect of being dragged into a relegation dogfight that few would have predicted.

Prediction : Home win

Sporting Fingal v Sligo Rovers Morton Stadium, Friday, 12th of March, 19.45 pm

In a replay of last seasons FAI cup final, Sporting Fingal will be looking to secure another victory over the Bit O’Red. Fingal were victorious last season in a tense final that finished 2-1 in Tallaght Stadium. Both teams faced tough assignments on the opening weekend, with Fingal going away to Bohemians and losing 1-0 whereas Sligo faced Shamrock Rovers at home and secured a point after a 1-1 draw. Fingal will be without left back Lorcan Fitzgerald who faces 6 weeks on the sidelines due to injury. Sligo don’t appear to have any injury concerns ahead of the game. Fingal will be hoping to improve on their good showing against Bohemians and get their season up and running.

Prediction : Draw

Dundalk v Drogheda Oriel Park, Sunday, 14th of March, 16.30 pm

Drogheda come into this game bottom of the league after being demolished by newly promoted UCD and may be questioning how they’ll survive in this division already. Dundalk managed to score a last minute winner away against Bray last week and will be hoping to be a lot more convincing in front of goal against their Boyneside rivals. In a local derby anything can happen, so the form book ,or lack there of , goes out the window. Drogheda will be hoping to move off the bottom of the league whilst Dundalk will be looking to make it a perfect 6 points so far this season.

Prediction : Home win

UCD v Bohemians The Belfield Bowl, Tuesday, 16th of March, 19.45 pm

UCD enter this game as league leaders against the current champions Bohemians. The Students were very impressive last week away against Drogheda and will be hoping to catch Bohemians off guard after a sluggish start to their season see them beat Sporting Fingal 1-0 at home. Ciaran Kilduff may prove the main threat for UCD after his brace against Drogheda last week. Bohemians will be expecting their extensive strike force to click into place and producing the goods in front of goal to make this game a lot more comfortable than last weeks edgy performance.

Prediction : Away Win

Shamrock Rovers v St.Patrick’s Athletic Tallaght Stadium, Tuesday, 16th of March, 20.00 pm

The first Dublin derby of the year sees St.Pats travel to Shamrock Rovers looking to build on their impressive victory last week against Galway. Rovers got their campaign off to a slow start against Sligo Rovers with a 1-1 draw, however The Hoops are facing big problems ahead of this game. Strikers Gary Twigg and Dessie Baker have both been sidelined for lengthy periods after sustaining injuries in the club’s previous outings, a lack of fire power is not what manager Michael O’Neill was hoping for, as he hopes to pursue the clubs ambition of ending their long wait for a trophy. St.Pats will go into this game full of confidence and have every chance of winning the first Dublin derby of this season.

Prediction : Away win

Betting Tips

My NAP this week has to involve Dundalk somehow, Drogheda were very poor last week so I’m going to go for Dundalk/Dundalk HT/FT @ 7/5. Personally my NB has got to be St.Pats who are a huge price @ 7/2 . Pete Mahon’s side were impressive last week against Galway and I can’t see where Rovers are going to get their goals from with Twigg and Baker out injured. Ciaran Kilduff of UCD may be worth a punt @ 7/1 to score first against Bohemians. The Champions started slowly against Fingal last week and may well be caught out by UCD’s undoubted pace up front. Elsewhere Karl Sheppard @ 6/4 and Ryan Guy @ 4/1 look like decent anytime goalscorer bets.

If you’d like to follow my predictions for the 5 games, you can receive odds of around 55/1 for the accumulator.

What are your views on Series 2 of the League of Ireland? Comments below please.

Arsenal 5-0 Porto.

Real Madrid 1-1 Lyon.

There has been talk over the past few months that the Premier League has began to fall behind La Liga in terms of it’s overall quality. With players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso swapping England for Spain last summer, many felt that La Liga would now become the best league in the world, however if last night’s and tonight’s results are anything to go by, the Premier League is still head and shoulders above La Liga.

Arsenal were expected to have a tough time of it at home to Porto as they looked to overturn a 2-1 deficit from their first leg in Portugal. To say that Arsene Wenger’s men made light work of the Portuguese giants would be an huge understatement. The Gunners won 5-0 on the night to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 6-2 aggregate win.

Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were also expected to find it difficult against the Italian giants AC Milan, however just like Arsenal, they came through with flying colours. Two goals from Wayne Rooney helped United to a 4-0 win on the night and a incredible 7-2 on aggregate.

Contrast that to Real Madrid who have once again crashed out at the last-16 stage of the competition despite the fact they spent over €270 million on players during the summer. French side Lyon managed to nick a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu this evening, which was enough to send them through to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 aggeragate win.

With 4 teams now through to the quarters, the Premier League has 2 teams, whilst La Liga has no teams, so those of you who say that La Liga is the best league in the world are wrong. Ok, it may, on occasion, be more enjoyable to watch, but the facts are there for all to see. The Premier League is the best in the world.

Perhaps you fancy placing a bet on United or Arsenal to go all the way this season? Try out Betfair promotion code BTE 111 for a £25 free bet at Betfair, provided by BettingExpert.com

What do you think? Comments below please.

The former Manchester United man has been in cracking form of late for Real and you would think, if they are to progress tonight, that Ronaldo needs to be firing on all cylinders.

You may already know that I am now writing for Football Q’s and if you read last week’s article you will now that every Wednesday, as part of my work for Football Q’s, I will be posting a question here on Football Corner and asking you to take a few seconds to go and vote on it. Anyway, this week my question is : Will Cristiano Ronaldo score for Real Madrid tonight in their game against Lyon?

In case you were wondering, I think he will, but what do you think? Please take just a few seconds to go and vote!

England went in at half time 1-0 down with several players underperforming but after several subs in the second half things picked up and Peter Crouch ended up netting twice with Shaun Wright Phillips also scoring to secure the victory. The bare result of the match is certainly a positive and if England play how they are capable of playing at the World Cup then you would expect them to justify expectations.

The first game most fans will be looking out for at the World Cup is England v USA which is England’s first game of the campaign. A win in that match should ensure England qualify as Group winners, most probably with the maximum nine points. Funnily enough it was England’s second opponents Algeria who knocked Egypt out of the World Cup Qualifying in a playoff so they shouldn’t be underestimated.

The final England group game is England v Slovenia and England have recent winning form against Slovenia so that should be the most straight forward three points of England’s campaign.

Many are writing England off at the World Cup but one of the things massively in England’s favour is the draw, England could get away without playing any of the so called bigger teams until the World Cup Semi Final. Considering in recent years England have met Argentina and Portugal early on in proceedings this has to be England’s best chance in decades.

The 3-1 at home to Burnley yesterday wasn’t great, however that win now leaves Arsenal just two points behind Manchester United and level on points with Chelsea, who, admittedly, have a game in hand.

This time last month, many, including myself thought Arsenal’s title bid was over for another season following back-to-back defeats against their two main title rivals. What a difference a few wins makes, eh?

Much has been said in recent days and weeks about Arsenal having the easier run-in of the top 3. I suppose all Premier League games these days are potential slip-ups, however you would have to say that the trip to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham and the visit of Manchester City are the only really tricky fixtures they have between now and the end of the season.

I reckon the only thing stopping Arsenal from winning their first title in six years is the fitness of Cesc Fabregas. The Spanish midfielder limped off with a hamstring strain just after the half-hour mark in yesterday’s victory and I personally believe the longer he is sidelined for, the less chance Arsenal have of lifting the trophy in May.

I’m keen to hear what you have to say on this one. Comments below please.

Bohemians 1 – 0 Sporting Fingal

The curtain raiser for the new season turned into a very evenly matched game with the winning goal coming courtesy of Killian Brennan. The midfielder coolly converted from the penalty spot after a controversial decision from Derek Tomney left the newly promoted, Sporting Fingal in a foul mood. However, Sporting can take a lot of positives from the game and will be hoping their work rate and all round ability will see them win more games than they lose this season. Bohs will be looking for an improved performance next time out in the Setanta Cup against Glentoran.

Bray Wanderers 0 – 1 Dundalk

Another closely contested game took place at The Carlisle Grounds. Many expect Bray to struggle this season but on the evidence of this performance they may prove a difficult team to beat. Dundalk had to wait till the 90th minute to secure victory with, new signing, Garry Breen scoring with a header from a JJ Meligan corner. Dundalk will be hoping to push on from this victory and begin a run of good form which could see them challenge for a European place come the end of the season.

Drogheda 0 – 3 UCD

UCD are the unlikely leaders of the League of Ireland after this display which raised a few eyebrows. A double from Ciaran Kilduff  and a goal from Greg Bolger was more than enough to see off a Drogheda side who must now be wondering how they will cope with sterner opposition throughout the remainder of the season.

St.Pats 2 – 0 Galway United

A comprehensive victory for Pete Mahon’s side thanks to goals from Ryan Guy and Alex Williams, sees the Inchicore club towards the top of the division. Ryan Guy opened the scoring before Stephen O’Donnell got his marching orders for two yellow cards after 17 minutes. Alex Williams completed the scoring on 68 with a powerful strike from 10 yards out. St.Pats will be delighted with this win and could ave scored more than two, whereas, Galway and Sean Connor will be hoping to improve their fortunes next time out against Bray Wanderers.

Sligo Rovers 1 – 1 Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers travelled to The Showgrounds hoping to pick up all 3 points to send a message to current champions Bohemians, however, the Tallaght based club only left with a single point after coming from behind in a close encounter between the League runner ups and the beaten FAI cup finalists. Eoin Doyle opened the scoring, against his former club after 22 minutes for Paul Cook’s side. Rovers responded in the 64 minute, when new signing James Chambers converted from the penalty spot. Both sides will be content with coming away from this game with a point, however each team will be looking to improve on this performance in the next series of fixtures.

On the betting front. Well, not great really. From all the tips I gave you on Thursday, sadly none of them won, however I did correctly predict three out of five results. Til next week!

What did you think of the opening weekend of the new League of Ireland season? Comments below please.

Bohemians vs Sporting Fingal. Dalymount Park, Fri, 19.35

Possibly the best of the first series of fixtures. Bohemians will begin the defence of their title in front of their own fans against the current FAI cup holders and newly promoted Sporting Fingal. Bohemians will have a number of debutantes on show, as will Sporting with Glen Crowe likely to start upfront. The former Bohemians striker is the highest goalscorer in the club’s history and will be looking to notch against his former club.

Prediction : Home win

Drogheda vs UCD. United Park, Fri, 19.45

A potential relegation six pointer this early in the season, both Drogheda and UCD have been tipped for relegation this season. Both teams will be looking for a victory in this game to get themselves off to the perfect start in battling against the drop. Drogheda will be looking for the likes of Glen Fitzpatrick and Robbie Martin to score the goals to keep them up. UCD will be hoping their lack of experience won’t be too much of a burden this season.

Prediction : Home win

St.Patricks vs Galway United. Richmond Park, Fri, 19.45

A tough game too call between two sides who will be hoping to steer well away from the danger zone this season. St.Pats were pretty inconsistent at home last season and will be hoping they can get off to a winning start at home this season. New signings such as Alex Williams, Brian Cash and Vinny Faherty will be looking to make their bows. Galway beat St.Pats on the first game of last season and have every chance of repeating that feat this year too. Stephen O’Donnell and Karl Sheppard will be looking to impress on their debuts for Sean Connor’s team and Barry Ryan will be hoping to keep a clean sheet against his former club.

Prediction : Score Draw

Bray Wanderers vs Dundalk. Carlisle Grounds, Fri, 19.45

Bray didn’t expect to be in the league this season but the demotion of Derry City and Cork City (now Cork City Foras Co-op FC) has lead to them starting the season as many people’s favourites for relegation this season. Bray have lost a number of key players and have struggled to replace them. Eddie Gormley will have to rely on youth set up for large parts of this season once again. Dundalk are aiming much higher and hope to gain a European place by the end of the season. Alan Cawley, Neale Fenn and Stephen Maher have been brought in to help the club take a big step towards their goal.

Prediction : Away Win

Sligo Rovers vs Shamrock Rovers. The Showgrounds, Sat, 19.45

Shamrock Rovers travel to Sligo hoping to come away with 3 points to send out a message to the rest of the league, having pushed Bohemians all the way last season but ultimately losing out to their Dublin rivals. Signings such as Billy Dennehy, Dan Murray and James Chambers have added more options to Michael O’Neill’s squad and he will be hoping to go one better this season. Sligo Rovers have lost top scorer Rafael Cretaro but have replaced him with former Shamrock Rovers’ striker Padraig Amond who will be hoping to nail down a regular starting spot in a hard working Sligo team.

Prediction : Score Draw

Betting Tips

I would have Bohemians -1 as my NAP @ 6/5. Dundalk are great value -1 against Bray @ 12/5 so I would have them as my NB. Paddy Madden to score first for Bohemians @ 9/2 is a very good price for a striker who has been in great form throughout pre-season. Padraig Amond (23/10) and Karl Sheppard (3/1) to score at anytime look like good bets too.

If you want to follow my predictions for the 5 games then you can receive odds of around 56/1 for the accumulator.

What are your feelings on the first series of fixtures from the League of Ireland? Comments below please.

Bohemians are once again the favourites to secure the title and have made some useful additions which has given them a lot of strength in depth, After losing Brian Murphy and Gary Deegan to Ipswich and Coventry respectively, The addition of Barry Murphy, Aaron Greene, Mark Quigley and Ruaidhri Higgins look set to help Bohs mount a strong defense of their trophy. Shamrock Rovers should be their biggest danger to the title as they pushed them all the way last season, however, Rovers squad has been completely dismantled, after releasing quite a number of players, and it remains to be seen how their new signings will adjust to playing with other. A signing which has caught the eye for Rovers is Craig Walsh, who appeared on Sky One’s “Football Next Star”.

The leagues’ newcomers, Sporting Fingal are hoping to compete on a level par with the current clubs and many believe they can mount a challenge for the top prize with the additions they have made, in the form of Glen Crowe and Ronan Finn which complements an already talented squad. Dundalk are another club hoping to compete for a place in Europe come the end of the season with new manager Ian Foster in place. Dundalk have made a number of new signings including former Cork City and Bohemians striker Neale Fenn. Another club with a possible claim for a European place is St.Patricks Atlethic, however the departure of Mark Quigley to champions Bohemians will in my opinion be a stumbling for the Inchicore club.

Galway United are an interesting prospect this season under the guidance of the ever unpredictable Sean Connor. The club could really go either way this season depending on the style of management Connor implements at Terryland Park. However, I do believe Galway have made some very good additions during the close season including former Everton trainee Karl Sheppard who has the potential to take this league by storm. Sligo Rovers are another team which could go either way after losing several keys players, however keeping Paul Cook in charge is a big boost for the Bit O’ Red.

Meanwhile the bottom of the table should feature teams such as UCD, Drogheda United and Bray Wanderers who in all fairness are unlikely to pick up many points against the top clubs this season.

The league promises to be one of the most exciting in recent times, so try your best to get down to your local club whether it be Bohs, Sligo or even Bray. It doesn’t cost a fortune to support your local team and you can’t beat the thrill of live football.

Predictions :

Winners : Bohemians (13/10)

Runners Up : Shamrock Rovers

Relegation : Bray (7/4 to finish bottom)

Top Goalscorer : Paddy Madden (12/1)

One to watch : Karl Sheppard (66/1 to be top goalscorer)

Darkhorses : St.Pats (12/1 to win the league)

The odds quoted above are general prices from several leading bookmakers.

Make sure to tune in every Thursday and Saturday for previews and reviews of the League of Ireland action.

What do you think? Comments below please.

Anyway, you may be wondering what the title of this piece has got anything to do with. Well, as part of my work at Football Q’s, every week I will be posting a particular question on here and linking it back to Football Q’s, so I would appreciate it if you took a few seconds to vote every Wednesday.

This week, the question is : Who will Fernando Torres be playing for next season? There has been talk that he may not be a Liverpool player next season due to the club’s current financial problems but what do you think? Head on over to Football Q’s to place your vote now.

With every pair of eyes in the stadium and indeed those watching around the world glued to the pre-match handshake, Bridge expectedly declined Terry’s hand and instead greeted him with a cold stare.

If giving up the honour to play for your country in the World Cup finals because of what Terry did, I don’t think anyone actually believed Bridge would bring himself to shake Terry’s hand.

As Craig Bellamy put it in his post match interview with Sky Sports after the game: “I think everyone in football knows what the guy (Terry) is like.” Never a truer word.

Terry is the captain of Chelsea and was the Captain of England. He is a leader on the pitch but an utter idiot off it. The Bridge story isn’t the worst of Terry’s doings but perhaps just the final straw in an overly long list.

To think Terry could have kept the captaincy is ludicrous. Fabio Capello made the right decision in stripping Terry of the captaincy.

One  bright side to this story is that the English media already have an excuse at the ready when they crash out in the group stages in South Africa – John Terry. Or if that fails they could always blame Wayne for pulling out of the squad.

Anyway, enough rambling. Hopefully this is  now the end of this story now and we can go back to concentrating on football or if you like gambling, head over to the BettingExpert.com Casino.

For any of you who are still yet to see the video, here it is: