Cavan vs Dublin Prediction: Preview, Odds - All Ireland SFC Round 2

🏆 Cavan vs Dublin All Ireland Round 2 Prediction

Round 2 of the Gaelic football All Ireland Championship takes place this weekend and in Group 2, much fancied Dubin take on underdogs Cavan. Dublin had an excellent win last time out dispatching a good Roscommon side on a scoreline of 2-19 to 0-13. Cavan had a more difficult opening game than that of the defending champions as they travelled to Mayo who are always fancied to be at the business end of the championship. Mayo ran out winners on a scoreline of 0-20 to 1-8 with a Cavan goal 10 minutes from time making the scoreline more respectable.

The upcoming match takes place in Cavan’s home ground of Breffni Park and they will need to try and use this home advantage as much as possible in what could be a very difficult day for the home side. The match takes place on Saturday 1st June at 7pm and will be refereed by Roscommon man Paddy Neilan, which is interesting as Roscommon are one of the two other teams in this group - a potential conflict of interest?

Cavan do have the quality to put it up to Dublin, especially in the form of Oisin Brady who scored 0-5 last time out, but Dublin should run out winners and I expect it to be slightly routine.

💯 Cavan vs Dublin All Ireland SFC Round 2 Odds

Dublin come into this game in red-hot form since their penalty shootout defeat to Derry in the Allianz National League final back in March. They have been unbeaten since dispatching Meath and Offaly with ease before coming up against a determined Louth side eventually running out 4-point winners to win their 14th Leinster title in a row.

Dublin also have some devastating forwards with Con O’Callaghan and Paul Mannion both in the top 10 scorers in the championship so far this season. O’Callaghan has scored 4-12 and Mannion has scored 1-12 with Con O’Callaghan being the top scorer from play in the country with 4-10 and Mannion 4th on that list with 1-9 of his scores coming from play.

As mentioned, Cavan are fresh off a defeat to much fancied Mayo and now have the even tougher task of defending the All Ireland champions and arguably the favourites for this year's crown. Cavan had a very respectable league campaign finishing 4th in Division 2 which contained Donegal, Armagh, Cork, Louth, Meath, Fermanagh and Kildare. They took this form into the Ulster preliminary round, shocking Monaghan 3-12 to 1-12 to book their place in the Quarter Finals of a very competitive Ulster Championship. They would lose out in the Quarter Final to Tyrone but not after extra time, eventually losing 3-16 to 1-23, a heartbreaking defeat for them in front of their home crowd. Cavan’s run of games has been more difficult than Dublin’s and this could stand to them but I still expect a comfortable Dublin win due to the quality of the squad they possess.

All signs point to a very comfortable evening for Dublin in Breffni Park on Saturday and this is being outlined in our recommended bookmakers odds below and my upcoming tips.

🏅Cavan vs Dublin: Match Winner

Result
Cavan to Win	9.50	11.00	11.00	11.00	13.00
Dublin to Win	N/A	1.03	1.02	1.03	1.03
Draw	21.00	26.00	26.00	21.00	26.00

✔️ Cavan vs Dublin - Betting Tips

• Tip 1: Dublin Handicap betting -12: In the early stages of the Leinster Championship, Dublin dispatched Meath by 16 points and Offaly by 20 points. Since then they have not had everything their own way, getting more what they bargained for against Louth in the Leinster Final, eventually winning by four. They beat Roscommon by 12 points but two late Dublin goals flattered the scoreline slightly.
  
  It could be argued that Dublin are just doing enough to get through to the latter stages of the championship and then kick into another gear but this could be a dangerous strategy. This year, especially in the championship Dublin have adopted a more man-fo-man approach unlike most other teams in the county. This makes their games exciting to watch and contributes to Dublin’s high scoring. It gives Dublin more players in attack which is leading to more scores but they are also vulnerable at the other end. They conceded 2-12 to Louth in the Leinster Final and were slightly fortunate that Offaly only scored 0-11 in the Semi Final, missing a couple of goal chances.
  
  Dublin are an exciting team to watch and with the strength they have off the bench the win should be routine but if they are not careful Cavan can cause problems to their defence. I still think it should be a comfortable margin of victory for Dublin and I think a handicap of -12 at odds of 1.91 with Boylesports is reasonable.

• Tip 2: Dublin to win by 13-15 points: This tip is more specific than the previous handicap tip and is for the punter who thinks they can beat the bookies or has free bets to redeem. Dublin were 12 point victors last week although Roscommon had it closer for long periods of the game. The match also took place in the expansive Croke Park which is a lot different than Breffni Park, where this weekend's game takes place. However Roscommon are a superior team to Cavan, so Cavan will find it difficult to keep it as tight as Roscommon did until Dublin pulled away at the end. The bookies are giving a handicap of -12 and I don’t expect the scoreline to veer far away from that.
  
  Dublin should win comfortably but are not used to tighter pitches like Breffni Park compared to Croke Park where they have played all 4 of their championship games to this point. This should give Cavan a slight chance of keeping the score down but as the game develops Dublin will show their superiority. Instead of focusing on a handicap, punters could focus on predicting the margin of victory that Dublin will inevitably have. Boylesports are providing odds of 5.00 for predicting Dublin’s margin of victory to be anywhere between 13 and 15 points.
  This is an intriguing price and also gives you three different margins of victory to win you the bet. Cavan are an inferior side to Roscommon who lost to 12 at the hands of Dublin but they are a better side than both Meath and Offaly who lost by 16 and 20 respectively, so the signs point to a 13-15 point victory for Dublin on Saturday.

• Tip 3: Paul Mannion to score a goal anytime: Paul Mannion is without question one of the best forwards in the country and he is having a great season in the blue of Dublin. He did not have his best stuff last time out vs Roscommon and was substituted after 45 minutes. Although, even on a bad day for him he scored 0-2. In the championship this season he is 10th on the list of overall top scorers and is 4th on the list of top scorers from play.
  
  He has scored 1-12 in total this season in 4 championship games and 1-9 of these scores have come from play. He is always a threat for Dublin and is a nightmare for any defender in the country and coming off an average performance last week by his incredibly high standards, I expect the usual Paul Mannion to make an appearance with numerous points and maybe even a goal. Boylesports are offering odds of 2.75 for Paul Mannion to score anytime which is an intriguing price for the punter.

1️⃣ Cavan Update

Cavan have the following injury concerns:

2️⃣ Dublin Update

Dublin have the following injury concerns:

👕 Cavan vs Dublin - Potential Lineups

✒️ Jack Guing – Expert Tipster

I am Jack Guing, a 23-year-old hailing from County Offaly in Ireland. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English and History from Maynooth University and a master’s degree in Sports Performance from the University of Limerick. I am a keen sports fan with an avid interest in GAA, soccer, and golf. My passion for performance analysis in sport offers a data-driven style to deliver informative predictions.