A SAFE BET Adam Scott did the business for this column last week and won the Qatar Masters in the process.
Pic: Sportsfile Scott lands 18/1 column coup Punting
Michael Duffy IT was a red-letter weekend for readers of the Final Furlong! Tipped-up in the column last week, Adam Scott fired a final-round 61 to land the Qatar Masters on Sunday. And the winning didn’t stop there - Sizing Europe (recommended at 5/1) sluiced up in the Irish Champion Hurdle, and the second, Hardy Eustace, was a recommended each-way saver at 10/1.
MEANWHILE, Superbowl 42 in Arizona will be the biggest annual event in the US sporting calendar and, most likely, it will be the biggest betting one too. The New England Patriots and the New York Giants battle it out live on Sky Sports, BBC, and TV3 (I’m not kidding) next Sunday night, and with such viewing access for punters, it takes no great insight to predict that Irish punters will gamble more on this Superbowl than any that has gone before.
And boy will we get enough opportunities! You can bet on which team will kick the first unsuccessful field goal, you can speculate which one of them will get to ten points first — you can even have your fiver on which team will win the toss.
Having won all their conference games, the New England Patriots will be out to complete a perfect season. They have the league’s top quarter-back, Tom Brady (already the winner of two Superbowls), and arguably the game’s best wide receiver, Randy Moss. Bookmakers rate their chances of winning at the weekend as somewhere between 6/1 ON and 5/1 ON, so not much potential there in the straight betting department.
But it might not be that straight-forward. Of all the tests New England got this season, the game with the Giants in late December was one of the sternest, so much so that New York led by 12 points in the third quarter. Add to that the Giants’ record of 10 wins on the road and maybe, just maybe, Sunday won’t be the rout everyone is expecting.
You couldn’t call the Patriots’ defence a weak-link but it’s their full-throttle offence that has steamrolled teams this season.
It might be stating the obvious, but to have any chance of winning the match, the Giants will have to keep the ball from Brady and score several touchdowns. That means Manning managing the offence to limit the number of turnovers, running the ball through Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw as often as possible, and cleverly playing down the clock.
Manning (a brother of last year’s MVP, Peyton) can play a big role, and he will ensure that the Giants’ running-back team will be busy men on Sunday night. Jacobs is 6-4 and 264lbs, he’s a powerhouse that New York use as a speedy battering-ram close to goal, and at 7/1 with a number of firms, he’s good value for Manning to put him in for touchdown number one.
In the MVP betting, there is little value. If New England win it’s highly likely that Brady will be given his third individual award and he is priced accordingly, as short as 1/3 with one firm. But Jacobs might be worth a small speculative punt, especially in the instance of him grabbing the first TD and going on to have a stormer. If the underdogs were to shock New England, Jacobs is likely to have had a big say in that so 25/1, looks attractive.
With all the pressure on the Patriots, the Giants are in the ideal position to cause a shock. It’s worth checking the odds with Ladbrokes to see if they’ll lead at half-time and full-time, and that might be a bet to keep you awake ‘til those small wee hours.
Recommended Super Bowl bets: MVP - Brandon Jacobs 25/1 (Ladbrokes), First Touchdown - Jacobs 7/1 (Ladbrokes). Half-time/Full-time - New York Giants
THE National Football League begins this weekend and, in recent years, there’s scarcely been a competition that bookmakers have found as difficult to price up. It could be a big weekend for the Ulster sides, and I’ll take Down to beat Sligo this weekend, reigning league champions Donegal to have too much for Kerry, and Tyrone to have the edge over Kildare in Healy Park in Omagh.
Recommended: National Football League - Treble: Down, Donegal and Tyrone. Note, all three games throw-in on Saturday evening.
