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Rep of Ireland v Northern Ireland Odds: Back Keane in the betting to score first

The league seasons may be drawing to a close but international football is set to take centre stage at various points during the summer and the Carling Nations Cup kicks off again on Tuesday night. Republic of Ireland go in as 8/15 favourites for their fixture with Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, and the away side are an industry best of 11/2 according to Totesport, with the draw 14/5.

Republic of Ireland opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Wales earlier in the year and another comfortable victory looks to be on the cards according to the odds. Northern Ireland were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline in their first match against Scotland and look to face an uphill task against their near neighbours.

The 3-0 win over Wales was the sixth time in the last seven matches that a Republic of Ireland game has involved three goals or more. Totesport.com offer tempting odds of 23/20 for Tuesday's match to involve 3-5 goals, while over 2.5 goals is currently priced evens as Giovanni Trapattaoni's side look to continue their expansive, attacking style of play.

Interestingly Republic of Ireland have scored first in four of their last five matches and it could well prove fruitful to take a look at the odds of their players in the first scorer market this week. Shane Long would be a decent punt but he is likely to be on Championship final play-off duty with Reading, and his strike partner Robbie Keane could be the man to back.

Keane endured a terrible time of it during a loan spell at West Ham, where he managed only two goals and suffered relegation from the Premier League. He heads back to his parent club Tottenham with an uncertain future, although his international form has been impressive. Keane has scored three goals in his last four matches for Ireland and is available at odds of 7/2 to score first with Totesport.

He comes up against a Northern Ireland side who have been short of goals themselves - Nigel Worthington's team haven't scored more than one goal in a match for 2 years (18 matches). It could be well worth backing a Rep of Ireland clean sheet this week at odds of 21/20, while the Ireland win to nil is priced 13/10.

It is difficult to pick a scorer from a Northern Ireland side that has scored just four in their last eight matches, and with Josh McQuoid scoring just once in twelve for Millwall and Warren Feeney failing to score in seventeen for Oldham it is tough to see where goals are going to come from. All time Northern Ireland top scorer David Healy isn't even in the squad again, and even so he has failed to scored in twelve matches at Rangers.

All the stats would appear to point to a Republic of Ireland win as both sides look to get much needed match practise for their Euro 2012 qualifiers and the Ireland win with a handicap of -1 goal looks nicely priced at 11/8. Considering the fact their recent games have involved at least three goals and Northern Ireland's own struggles in front of goal, the 3-0 correct score could offer value at 9/1.

Rep of Ireland v Northern Ireland Tips

Tip #1: Robbie Keane to score first @ 7/2 with Totesport.com
Tip #2: Rep of Ireland to win with a handicap of -1 goal @ 11/8 with Totesport.com
Tip #3: Rep of Ireland to win to nil @ 13/10 with Totesport.com

Rep of Ireland v Northern Ireland Odds

Match Betting

8/15 Rep of Ireland
14/5 Draw
11/2 Northern Ireland

Correct Score Odds

5/1 Rep of Ireland 1-0
5/1 Rep of Ireland 2-0
6/1 Rep of Ireland 2-1
7/1 Draw 0-0
6/1 Draw 1-1
18/1 Draw 2-2
9/1 Northern Ireland 1-0
25/1 Northern Ireland 2-0
20/1 Northern Ireland 2-1

First Goalscorer Odds

7/2 Robbie Keane
9/2 Anthony Stokes
9/2 Caleb Folan
9/2 Jonathan Walters
11/2 Simon Cox
6/1 Andy Keogh
7/1 No Goalscorer
7/1 Stephen Ward
15/2 Aiden McGeady
8/1 Liam Boyce
9/1 Liam Lawrence
10/1 Warren Feeney

All odds are supplied courtesy of Totesport.com, who provide several other betting markets, including live betting in-running, for this match and all the week's Carling Nations Cup fixtures.

Posted: Monday, 23rd May 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: rep of ireland, northern ireland, robbie keane, totesport,

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