Emmet Moloney writes for the 'Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

With Cheltenham, the rugby and the All-Ireland Club Finals all in store, Emmet Moloney is spoiled for sporting choice this week. Will the favourites all prevail, or will the underdogs upset the odds?

Tis the night before Cheltenham, and all is quiet. The Irish rugby team are safely tucked up in their beds, as are the Portumna hurling panel and the Crossmaglen footballers. All have a big week ahead of them. Being hot favourites won’t make the slumber any easier, because favourites are there to be shot at.

By the time you read this, the same can be said for Cousin Vinny. He travelled to the Cotswolds with hope, enthusiasm and some of my money on his back. Of course, a horse doesn’t know he’s a favourite – probably why so many favourites get beaten at Cheltenham.
But a human does. For all the talk about professionalism in rugby, our team knows they are odds-on to beat Scotland. Portumna and Cross have the same burden to bear. Both are expected to show up, win and go home. And of course, that’s where it gets tricky.
For a number of years, Ireland specialised in turning favourites over. In the stadium formerly known as Lansdowne Road, we could always be relied upon to give at least one good performance every season. England would be beaten, or Wales caught unawares. Then we would go back to our role as whipping boy of international rugby, until the next moral or actual victory came along. We knew our place back then and probably revelled in it.

But that was then, and this is now. We have handled professionalism exceptionally well and, as it coincided with the arrival of Brian O’Driscoll about 10 years ago, we have been serious players in the Six Nations ever since. What’s more, we have won matches we were expected to win – not really an Irish sporting quality, that.

The Scottish are now the very same as Ireland were in the late ’90s. They are the team that must lower their expectations and hope for one morale boost a season. We are expected to beat Scotland handily this weekend. Wales is the game everyone is talking about, and the Grand Slam, a mythical aspiration for so many years, is within our sights. Heady times indeed. But also most dangerous.

Let’s put ourselves in Scotland’s boots for a minute. It’s Ireland, a team we could always beat. It’s at home, where we can beat anyone. No one thinks we can win. We haven’t had our customary one outstanding performance yet. If we show up these guys, one or two of us could make a case for Lions selection. It’s Ireland, for God’s sake, not the All Blacks.

Now, Declan Kidney won’t be telling his fellas to go easy against them. He won’t be resting anyone, and he won’t be underestimating anyone. He made his bones with Munster as a coach who could knock off the big boys of France and England. He would relish the challenge of being the Scottish coach this week, because that job is actually the easier of the two.

Kidney’s job this week is to be intense. Wales will not be mentioned. Anyone who does mention the Taffies will get a swift kick in the behind. Wales is dangerous talk. We’re being set up here, and Kidney knows it. Murrayfield on Saturday will resemble one of those meandering roads in West Cork that cuts through hills, mountains and forests. You know the roads. You drive past and think to yourself: “What a great place for an ambush.”
Of course, we can see the long grass in front of us on Saturday, but damn it, players are human. They won’t be taking the Scots for granted, but if their mental approach is in any way lax, we’ll be caught.

If these Bravehearts get a sniff of the game, they will grow another foot in height and gain an extra step in the contact area. The crowd will lift them, and we’ll be in trouble. Real trouble.

De La Salle will be thinking the same thoughts as Scotland. Their game plan will be a simple one. Anytime a Portumna man gets near the ball, he must be surrounded, bottled up and tackled. Ferociously. Savagely. Aggressively. Constantly. If that man happens to be Joe Canning, that treatment is upped a notch and any player in the vicinity has to join in the containment.

This Waterford team are far from the underdogs that the bookies would have us believe them to be. They arrive in Croke Park on the back of a perfect campaign, where they have been tested time and time again. Comebacks against Adare and Cushendall must give this team a serious belief in themselves. Without saying it out loud, they will be convinced that this All-Ireland is their destiny.

The Galway men have done it all before and, naturally, will see De La Salle as a huge threat. They deserve to have all the confidence on their side, but that fine line between confidence and arrogance is a tricky one to straddle.

All great teams must live on both sides of it on occasion, and Portumna are a great team. They are ready to be knocked off their stride on Tuesday, and I can see De La Salle doing that.

Remember that the Club Finals are only 60 minutes long. That extra five minutes in both halves in championship hurling is vital, as a game tends to open up. In club hurling, that shorter time span suits the underdogs. If Mullane puts the first ball he gets over the bar, hold on to your horses: the upset is on.

By the way, speaking of Croke Park – the hurling on first, the football on second? Are ye mad? You don’t put U2 on before the Sawdoctors. All right, a bad example, but you know what I mean. The Northerners will strangle the life out of the Dubs, and it will be a hard 60 minutes to watch.

So Ireland to win, but only just. Portumna to have the life frightened out of them by a savagely committed De La Salle. Cross to win again. And a horse called Psycho to win the 2.05 County Hurdle in Cheltenham on Friday.

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...