Betfair Sports | Betfair Poker | Betfair Casino

GAA Betting

Since ancient times, there has been a tradition of field games (and betting) ingrained into Irish culture. While the game of Hurling has a long and noble history right back to Cuchalain in the 1st century AD, it was only with the formation of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) in Thurles in 1884, that formal rules for both Hurling and the new game of Gaelic Football were put in place.

The infrastructure provided by the GAA allowed both games to thrive, with Gaelic Football in particular thriving across a country that was still under British rule. The first All-Ireland Championships on a county basis, involving five of Ireland’s thirty two counties in Hurling and eight in Gaelic Football, were held in 1887.

Gaelic Football
The GAA betting and inter-county Gaelic Football season starts in February with the National League, which has two divisions split 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B.

The semi-finals and final are held in April. The All-Ireland Club Championship becomes an interesting betting proposition once it gets to the All-Ireland semi-final stage and the final, which is staged at Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day, is screened live on TG4. Anyone with a bet for 2005 on this years winner’s Newtonshandrum from Cork, will not be in a position to collect as they failed to defend their county title.

The highlight of the Gaelic Football betting season, however, is the All-Ireland Championship which starts in May with the provincial (Leinster, Munster, Connaught and Ulster) championships and climaxes with the All-Ireland Final on the third Sunday in Croke Park on the third weekend in September. The betting on this competition is sizeable, with huge local interest in such perennial favourites as Kerry (32-time winners), Dublin, Galway, Cork and Meath.

All 32 counties enter teams to compete for the famous Sam Maguire Cup. There are up to two live ties on RTE virtually every weekend of the summer, which can make for some very attractive odds in the in-play betting markets. The core GAA betting markets are the Outright, To Qualify, Handicap, First Score and First Goal markets. There is also a minor (under 18) competition which runs alonside the senior championship and acts as a curtain raiser, both in sporting and betting terms, for all senior championship ties. With the incresed media exposure of the game, the interest in Gaelic Football betting has really grown and this is likely to continue.

Betfair is offering long term Ante Post markets on the 2005 All-Ireland Championship, so if you fancy a bet on your native county, just go to the ‘Gaelic Games’ section of the site. Now part of the GAA season in, November sees an Irish team travel down under (or vice versa) to take on an Australian team of professional Aussie Rules players in the International Rules series.

This series has captured the imagination of both countries and can prove competitive as both a sporting and betting proposition. The conclusion to each season sees the GAA press select an All Star team for Gaelic Football, as they do for Hurling and this is the greatest individual honour that can be bestowed on a player.

Hurling
As with Gaeilc Football, the Hurling season starts with the National League (three divisions split into sub-divisions 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B) in inter-county competition and the latter stages of the All-Ireland Club Championship for the nation’s clubs. The nature of the game in Ireland is that due to fact that the power base of true Hurling counties is small, less counties qualify to contest the Senior All-Ireland Championship that starts in May.

The teams that do enter compete to qualify from their province and subsequent qualifiers, with two team eventually competing for the Mc Carthy Cup in Croke Park on the first Sunday in September. Anyone having a bet on the All-Ireland Outright Market would be well advised to focus on the stronger Munster sides such as Cork (28 titles), Tipperary (25 titles) and Waterford, as well as the mighty men from Leinster, Kilkenny (27 titles).

Again, with 20% better odds than the traditional bookmakers, Betfair with its range of Outright, Handicap and Special markets plus in-play betting represents the best opportunity for the punter betting on Hurling to make a profit.

Again, RTE cover one or more matches every second weekend during the summer and the speed of the game (one of the fastest in the world) and the fluctuations in scoring make it a real thrill for ‘in-play’ betting. Not only this but the spectacle of two teams of 15 players (as with Gaelic Football) each with a Hurling stick, enaging in a full contact sport makes it one of the finest spectacles in the world.

Bet on Gaelic Games

GAA Betting

BETFAIR@ and the BETFAIR LOGO are trade marks of The Sporting Exchange Limited.