The All-Ireland Hurling 2024 Championship Odds: Limerick On Top Ahead Of Waterford Clash

Daire Walsh

The All-Ireland senior hurling championship is really beginning to heat up and with so much up for grabs this weekend, the best betting sites are once again giving their takes on who is most likely to come away with the top prize in the small ball code.

Following an eventful few weeks, the round-robin section of both the Leinster and Munster championships are set to reach a conclusion in the coming days.

While Antrim and Carlow are set to face off at Corrigan Park on Sunday in the Leinster SHC, this is a game that has major ramifications for next year rather than this one.

As a result of their respective defeats to Galway and Wexford last weekend, both of these counties won’t be progressing any further in this year’s Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Yet with the bottom team in Leinster suffering relegation to the 2025 edition of the Joe McDonagh Cup, there is a winner-takes-all feel to this game.

However, whereas the victor in that game will be merely aiming to preserve their top-flight status for another year at least, Kilkenny, Wexford, Galway and Dublin will be aiming for either a provincial final place or a passage to an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final later in the summer.

Limerick Still The Favourites For Fifth Successive Title

The same goes over in Munster for Limerick, Clare and Waterford, who will all be in action on Sunday.

Cork have completed their round-robin campaign and will be hoping that back-to-back wins against Limerick and Tipperary can keep their All-Ireland dreams alive, but the latter will see their 2024 journey coming to an end when they face Clare at Semple Stadium in Thurles.

No one is safe from championship elimination in the south, but there is nevertheless an anticipation that Limerick will have advanced to their sixth consecutive Munster final by the end of the weekend.

After the scoring exploits of Seamus Flanagan (3-3), Aaron Gillane (0-7) and Gearoid Hegarty (0-4) weren’t enough to avoid defeat to Cork, the Treaty County are expected to get back to winning ways against an admittedly improving Waterford at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon.

As the All-Ireland champions of the past four years – and the Munster winners of the last five – Limerick remain the frontrunners at 4/5 for ultimate success despite that recent loss to Cork.

Clare Behind Limerick In Betting

When Clare faced Limerick at the start of the Munster round-robin, they held a nine-point advantage before eventually losing out to their neighbours by three points. They looked set to share the spoils with Waterford in Ennis last Sunday prior to a much-discussed stoppage-time ‘65’ from Mark Rodgers winning them the game.

Though the two fixtures mentioned above (and a narrow victory against Cork in between) has raised some questions, the Banner remain a key contender for All-Ireland glory. While some bookmakers rate them as 9/2 prospects, the majority of betting apps are offering odds of 11/2on Brian Lohan’s charges.

Cork And Kilkenny Also In The Running, Galway An Outside Bet

This makes them second favourites for a national championship title, but a resurgent Cork are now hot on their heels.

On the brink of being knocked out of the competition as a consequence of successive defeats to Waterford and Clare, the Leesiders are back in the frame thanks to their narrow win over Limerick and last weekend’s 18-point demolition job against Tipperary.

They will still need some results to go their way this weekend, but Cork could be a force to be reckoned with if they manage to secure a top-three finish. As short as 9/2 with BoyleSports, Pat Ryan’s outfit are rated at somewhere between 5/1 and 6/1 with the remaining bookmakers on the market.

Even though they are now the only unbeaten side left in the championship, Kilkenny have slipped down to fourth in the betting for the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Last Saturday saw them facing a previously undefeated Dublin at Parnell Park and just when it looked like the Sky Blues might be on course for a famous victory, a late goal from Eoin Cody got The Cats over the line.

Yet in addition to drawing away to Galway, Kilkenny also shared the points with Carlow in a recent championship bout. This means that there are some question marks over their overall prospects for 2024 and another tough test awaits them at home to Wexford on Sunday.

Yet even though the Marble County side are adrift of Limerick, Clare and Cork in the eyes of GAA betting sites at the moment, they are still an enticing option for punters at 13/2.

Although they got back to winning ways against Antrim following the disappointment of losing out to Wexford, there is uncertainty as to whether Galway have enough about them to forge a genuine challenge for the All-Ireland crown.

A win over Dublin at Pearse Stadium in Salthill this weekend would keep them in the championship beyond the provincial series, but with practically every firm offering 10/1 on Henry Shefflin’s westerners, the Tribesmen appeared to be an outside option at the time of writing.

Waterford And Wexford Further Down The Pecking Order, While Dublin Are Rank Outsiders

On the back of a difficult National Hurling League campaign, the expectations of Waterford weren’t as high as may have been in previous years.

Yet the Deise have been competitive across their championship games to date – albeit they may rue not being able to secure more than a point from their meeting with Tipperary.

Despite all that, however, they lie fourth in the Munster table heading into a crunch encounter with an all-conquering Limerick side at the weekend. This goes some way to explaining why the odds available on Waterford are as big as 33/1.

Even though Wexford backed up their excellent victory against Galway with an emphatic win over Carlow last weekend, bookmakers remained unconvinced about their Liam MacCarthy credentials.

Their recent record against Kilkenny in the Leinster round-robin series has been encouraging and they may need another big result at Nowlan Park to ensure they remain in the reckoning beyond this weekend.

The 25/1 some firms are offering on the Slaneysiders may make them an enticing outside bet, but the majority of new betting sites only see them as a 50/1 prospect.

Whereas Lee Chin has been scorer-in-chief for Wexford thus far, his haul of 1-41 makes Donal Burke the go-to man in the Dublin attack.

His tally of 14 points wasn’t enough to give the capital side the spoils against Kilkenny last Saturday and it leaves needing another big performance and result in their upcoming meeting with Galway.

Regardless, Dublin aren’t seen as a live contender for All-Ireland glory even if they prosper this Sunday – as evidenced by the championship odds that range from 66/1 to 150/1 on the Sky Blues.