Having enjoyed last week's return to National League action and especially Antrim's profitable win over Carlow, the only negative from a betting point of view was Downs's heavy defeat to Donegal.

Having tipped the game to be under 30.5 points, and with only 11 points on the board at half time, chickens had begun to be counted.

But, unfortunately Down collapsed in the second half and the game ended up having a total of 31 points. Down are in action away to Monaghan this weekend and having scrutinised their performance on Saturday past this game provides us with our NAP of the week.

Both teams have been named and Monaghan have named an almost full championship 15 that includes key men such as Drew Wylie, Colin Walshe, Darren Hughes, Karl O'Connell and Conor McManus.

Malachy O'Rourke must be delighted as they came back brilliantly away to Roscommon last week and the Farney men also seem to have little injury worries as well as having the luxury of playing at home.

Down on the other hand seem to be having a nightmare at the minute and there is little to suggest that they are going to get out of this rut. Morale is at an all time low in the county and they need all their best players on the field, but circumstances seem to be working against them, especially in the forward department where they have an injury list at long as your arm.

On top of forwards like Jerome Johnston, Conor Laverty, Paul Devlin, Caolan Mooney, Marty Clarke and Benny Coulter, they are now also without Ryan Johnston and their top scorer for the last three years Donal O'Hare.

All of this indicates that Monaghan (1/4) should capture the two points. But my Nap is for Down to score less than the total points offered by the bookies.
At the time of writing this market has not yet been priced up, but keep an eye online and it will appear over the course of Saturday or Sunday, also remember to look around the different bookmakers as some points total may be more generous than others.

My second pick for this weekend is Tyrone to defeat Galway, currently best priced at 4/5 with Paddy Power.

There has been a lot of talk about Galway since the start of the season and there are signs that suggest that they have improved.

But, some analysts seem to be claiming that they may have turned a corner. I very much question this newly found confidence in Galway.

They won the FBD league beating Roscommon in the final and they beat a miserable Laois team last weekend. These are wins that Galway should be expecting to claim and they haven't played a team as good as Tyrone yet.

It is my belief that when they come up against Tyrone they receive a rude awakening. Galway haven't played anybody near as good as Tyrone this season, they will struggle to cope with Tyrone's athleticism, experience, talent and most importantly Tyrone's proven ability to get results when it matters the most.

Looking at Tyrone's form this year, they have played 8 games and won them all, I think Galway will give them a game but Tyrone will, as they tend to do under mickey Harte find a way to claim their 9th win of the year.

My final selection is a treble that includes Monaghan to beat Down at HT/FT at ½, the Dublin/Mayo game to be over 1.5 goals at 8/15 and Westmeath to beat Sligo at 2/5.

Having outlined my reasons earlier, I can't see Monaghan being troubled by Down. I have chosen the Mayo/Dublin game to be over 1.5 goal as having watched these counties last week it was clear to see that they both aren't playing very defensive at the minute.

Dublin should have scored six goals against Kerry and Mayo look to have a very vulnerable defence at the minute. I can see this being a very open game in Castlebar and I expect both sides to play freely.

Westmeath make up the last leg of the treble. They were defeated by Division 3 favourites Kildare last week, but this weekend's opponents are not on the same level as Kildare.

Last week I tipped Sligo to get relegated at 6/4 and I think Westmeath will beat them as Sligo don't have the same quality as Westmeath, I thoroughly expect a John Heslin inspired team to get the win here.

The treble is best priced with Paddy Power and pays just under 10/3

Recommended bets:

• Down to be under their total match points (not yet to be priced up)
• Tyrone to defeat Galway at 4/5 with Paddy Power
• Monaghan to be winning at HT/FT, Dublin/Mayo O1.5 goals and Westmeath at 10/3

Follow @TheGAAmbler1 on twitter for further tips and previews

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