As the name suggests, Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips is a horse racing tipster service which focuses on Irish racing. The eponymous Shane Murphy has been operating the service for a considerable period of time through the Tipster Street stable of tipsters.
What does the product offer?
Tipster services come and go like the tides and as such, I always find it rather interesting when one comes along which has been operational for a decent period of time. In the case of Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips, this actually amounts to nearly 4 years. In tipster terms, this is aeons, I may even be inclined to say almost unheard of. This applies doubly so when you consider that it is all one service as well (there are a few tipsters currently out there who I happen to know are on their 3rd tipster service with a slightly different name).
Of course, longevity is only half the battle. I know of several tipsters who are operational after a long period of time but have struggled to do more than barely break even. What I am trying to highlight here is that there are a lot of factors involved when looking at a service. None the less, based off my initial research, there is very little doubting that Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips appears to be a pretty genuine service. We all know what happens when you assume though and as such, I want to see whether or not Shane Murphy’s selections can stand up to genuine scrutiny.
In terms of what you are getting, Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips does not break any new ground. It is a near daily horse racing tipster service. When selections are available (usually between 9am and 11am), they are sent directly to subscribers via email. One of the things that I do believe to be stand out about Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips is that Shane Murphy doesn’t just send out a horse and a time. He provides information on odds, the best prices etc. all based around the main best odds guaranteed bookmakers. This means two things. The first is that a large chunk of work is done for you (and rightly so in my opinion) and by focusing on the main bookmakers, it ensures that you should be able to get the same, if not very similar results to those provided.
The bets themselves are a healthy mixture of each way and win bets. Which are spread across a number of different racing disciplines. This does mean year round tips from Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips. There is also a solid range in terms of the odds that you are advised. For example, one day involved backing a horse at 14/1 each way whilst the next day was a win bet on an 11.8 horse. This allows for a healthy mix of consistent wins and the occasional big winner as well.
This only really leaves the numbers side of Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips to consider. As always, there are two key things here. The first is the staking plan. Shane Murphy is very clear about what this entails and it is a straight forward enough thing. All win bets are advised to a level 2 points per bet whilst each way bets are advised at 1 point each way. Given that the starting bank is advised as 100 points, I believe that Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips has a workable staking plan.
In terms of the strike rate, this stands at 36%. Whilst this may not sound particularly impressive at a glance, for a service that has been operational for as long as Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips has it has left me impressed. The fact of the matter is that I would expect a service like Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips to attain a strike rate of about 25% so to perform how it has is definite testimony to how Shane Murphy runs is service.
How does the product work?
If there is one thing about Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips that I indisputably find disappointing, it is the lack of information on the selection process. Tipster Street simply talk about how Shane Murphy has been tipping with them for a long period of time and that he has been one of their more consistent tipsters. I have generally said for a long time that as a punter, I like to know that any tipster behind a service has a genuine plan in place. This doesn’t have to be detailed, but there should be enough to know that they aren’t simply guessing.
With this having been said, I also feel that there is a simple rebuttal to that and that is the amount of time that Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips has been operational. Furthermore, it has been proofed for this period of time. This certainly goes some way to making up for this lack of information however I don’t believe that it entirely eradicates the problem for me.
What is the initial investment?
One of the things that Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips does get right is the pricing. There are three options available which are a monthly subscription, a quarterly subscription and a lifetime membership. The monthly option costs a very reasonable £19.95 per month. The quarterly option represents much better value at £39.95. There is no price in place for the lifetime membership with Tipster Street only offering a very limited number of places.
It is worth pointing out that both the monthly and quarterly options come with your first 30 days for just £4.95. Unfortunately, there is no money back guarantee in place. Payment for the service is handled directly through Paypal.
What is the rate of return?
If the pricing of Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips is a strong point, the overall profitability is something that is a little less impressive. Now the most important thing to keep in mind is the fact that Shane Murphy has maintained a profit over 4 years. In fact, looking at everything that Tipster Street provide in terms of historic results, he is yet to have a losing year. Unfortunately, the average monthly profits are around just 9 points. This means that had you followed Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips since it launched, paid monthly and you were betting to £10 per point you would have made just £72.24 per month each month on average. All of this represents an ROI of 8%.
Conclusion
Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips is not a service that you buy if you want to make a quick buck. Nor is it a service if you are looking for any type of substantial return to be honest. This does not however make Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips an inherently bad product, however I do believe that it becomes much more nuanced and nuanced can be difficult. As such, I want to talk about the pros and cons behind Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips in black and white as it were.
There are a few clear advantages to me. The first of these is longevity. Shane Murphy has been running Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips for a long time and whilst the results aren’t necessarily outstanding, it is clear that he knows what he is doing. Nearly 4 years is a long time in such a cutthroat business and this is probably the strongest takeaway that I have when it comes to Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips.
The second thing that is a positive is the value for money. Putting aside the average performance of Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips, £19.95 per month is a very reasonable price to pay for a service. The fact that the quarterly subscription represents better value for money only highlights my point. Value can mean different things to different people, and whilst I can appreciate that there are services that have a stronger ROI, these can cost £40-£50 per month.
Now onto the downsides to Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips. There are two things that stand out for me and the two are inextricably linked. The first is the limited scope for profit. Sure, you could bet £100 per bet and take £921 per month (on average) but this number is well outside of the scope of most bettors (which is why I always work to £10 stakes). For my money, the effort involved in tracking a service, placing bets, taking the losing runs with the winning runs etc. simply aren’t worth £92 per month. Not when there are much better services available.
This ties into my second point which is that if you are working to £10 stakes, you are actually betting £20 per horse when following Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips. This means that effectively, if you are just betting £10 per bet (rather than per point), you are looking at just £45 per month. This is a depressingly small figure and whilst it is taken to something of an extreme, it also highlights how little Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips actually makes.
It is rather unfortunate that I see little about Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips that is really worth following. I don’t doubt that Shane Murphy knows his job well but the bottom line of any service is profit. For my money, there isn’t enough to be had here. Whilst I don’t expect any tipster to produce £1,000 per month like clockwork, I would also anticipate making more than 9.2 points of profit to 2 point stakes. The fact of the matter is that in a competitive environment, Shane Murphy’s Irish Tips just isn’t quite good enough.
