Finalists do little to inspire

THE weekend's National Football League semi finals and the looming prospect of another Donegal Derry final are enough to make us all nostalgic for the old days of the League.

Ten years ago, third division Laois won the title, beating the holders Monaghan in a close fought final. It was typical enough for the League of the time - providing a day out for unfashionable counties and having little relevance to the championship ahead.

Monaghan, back then, were a good team who ran Kerry close in the previous year's championship but the horizons for Ulster teams were a lot more limited in those days than they are now. In 1985, also, Laois had given a similarly creditable display against Dublin in the Leinster final.

Nonetheless, for either to break through in the championship would require a major metamorphosis and so it proved. Both Laois and Monaghan were beaten in the first round of their provincial championships.

The point about this reminiscence is that, in comparison to recent years, the League meant something on its own merits. Counties might win it who would have little input to the main activities of the summer but it was a competition with its own identity.

In the 10 years since, the League, particularly at knockout level, has increasingly become a rehearsal for the championship. There have been big crowds - mainly in the years that Dublin have been involved - and the odd good match but none of the finals has been regarded as anything more than a means to an end.

Each win has been either eclipsed by All Ireland success or, more commonly, totally overshadowed by championship disappointment, in other words, recent successful teams have regarded their potential as being insufficiently realised by winning the League.

As a result, we end up with semifinals like the weekend's where all the talk is about the implications for the summer and primary amongst the finalists' responses is the consideration that reaching the final will give them another hard championship like match".

With these attitudes - inevitable as they may be - governing matters, it is hardly surprising that pulses are rarely set racing by such pre summer workouts.

The rise of Ulster counties this decade has exacerbated the situation. With their provincial championship, operated on an open draw, starting in mid May, counties in the League final frequently have only a couple of weeks to recover as has already happened Derry, Tyrone and Donegal in the last five years.

Another Donegal Derry final will not fill the air with anticipation. Their three previous meetings in finals Ulster in 1992 and 93 and last year's League have produced only one goal and that was a some what questionable contribution from Seamus Downey in the Ulster decider four years ago.

Goals don't guarantee good matches but good matches are more likely when goals are scored.

After Sunday's semi final, the initial reaction to the final pairing of Derry's Joe Brolly ("Boring, boring") was contradicted by corner back Tony Scullion who said: "If it is anything like last year's final encounter, then it will be a great spectacle for GAA."

Scully is one of the most affable men ever to rise to the top of a competitive sport and it is respectfully suggested that his conjunction of "last year's final" and "spectacle" owes more to that affability than any deeper reflection on a match that will be best remembered as an uneasy requiem to last season's experimental rules.

In a fortnight, both Donegal and Derry will be firmly focused on Down and Armagh rather than on each other. They'll want to win the League - once in the final, you might as well but both would settle for defeat rather than an injury to a key player.

If in doubt, ask Derry would they have traded in last year's League for a fit Brolly in the Ulster championship: Sunday's performance against Mayo emphasised what a loss the county suffered when the corner forward broke his wrist in last year's League final.