Dublin remain strong favourites to claim All-Ireland victory

The betting for this weekend’s All-Ireland senior football championship final is mostly one-sided as Dublin remain strong favourites to get their hands on the Sam Maguire Cup for the sixth consecutive year.

Dessie Farrell’s side were chalked up as 1/4 favourites after breezing into the final with a comfortable last-four victory over Cavan, but with significant bets being placed even at a heavy odds-on price, they have shortened even further into 1/5 with BoyleSports before Saturday’s game (throw-in 5 p.m. in Croke Park, Dublin).

An original handicap of five points on the favourites made Mayo odds-on at 10/11, but they now need a virtual six-point start to put the betting on an even keel as punters predict another comfortable winning margin for the reigning All-Ireland champions.

The chances of Mayo ending their 69-year wait for an All-Ireland title have been eased to 10/3 from 5/2, but any hope they have of dethroning the Dubs may rest on the boot of Cillian O’Connor.

His four-goal spree in Mayo’s semi-final rout of Tipperary saw him backed into 5/2 second favourite from 6/1 to be crowned footballer of the year, while he is the most likely man of the match for the underdogs having been gambled into 10/1 from 12/1.

Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for BoyleSports, said: “There is optimism coming from our customers in the west and Cillian O’Connor is being backed to star if they do indeed manage to upset Dublin in Saturday’s showdown.

“But the overall traffic remains in Dublin’s direction and we were even seeing them backed heavily at 1/4, so it’s going to take a huge upset of the odds to deny them.”