Sideline Cut: With precious little fuss, the GAA National League season, once the unwanted orphan of the Irish sports calendar, has become an intriguing and lively affair.

All the talk about the league as a hindrance and the fashionable belief that winning the league could be a dangerous omen - tantamount to "asking for it" come the championship - has disappeared. We probably have the hurlers of Kilkenny and the footballers of Kerry to thank for that. Both those teams put into practice the universal sporting truth that winning breeds winning.

There are many great things about the league season. Although the much anticipated rugby season and Roy Keane's great version of J'Accuse in the corridors of Highbury have kept the newspapers in ink all week, there has been a delicious undercurrent of GAA gossip to usher in the new season.

If there is one thing we all learn with time, it's that there is no way of speaking to a Mayo man who will not be spoken to.

The communication issue between manager John Maughan and veteran footballer David Brady is entering the realms of high-stool philosophy now. Much like the tree falling unheard in the forest, it has to be asked that if a man has been picked to play midfield for his county without his knowledge or consent has he been picked at all?

The country is full of midfielders of all shapes, sizes and political persuasions who would argue until blue in the face that they should be picked on a given team. It takes a rare kind indeed to contend that he should not be.

However, that would seem to be the situation in the western county in these early days of February and it is hardly serving as a balm to the still frayed nerves of Mayo's legion of loyal supporters.

The characteristic Maughan and Brady share is that they are about as likeable and engaging as any two people can be. Around this time last year, I spent a good two hours talking to Maughan in the county council chambers in Castlebar. And I warmed to the great sense of optimism and the complete absence of cute talk with which Maughan spoke of his relationship with Mayo and Mayo football.

In his first coming as Mayo manager, he had treated the near religious quest for an All-Ireland as something achievable through physical suffering and stubborn faith. This time around, he regarded the whole shebang differently. Whereas before he went for the sundance, now he was content to head to the wigwam and smoke the peace pipe. Hence all season the word used to describe Maughan in the Mayo camp 2004 was "mellow".

And he was insofar as he appreciated that in the contemporary era, intercounty football placed an inordinate strain on the everyday lives of players. It wasn't until early summer that Mayo's All-Ireland squad came together and then they headed off to the Catskills to train hard and share Roscommon jokes over the camp fire.

David Brady benefited from that enlightened approach, returning from Down Under and ditching his surfboard in exchange for his football boots to add a touch of mustard to Mayo's summer flavour. He was fresh, controlled and committed throughout the Connacht championship. Last February, Maughan said on these pages he hadn't a clue if Mayo could get to or win an All-Ireland in the immediate season but he fervently believed they would do, some day. Whereas before that uncertainty had made him miserable, he had learned that that very lack of guarantee was the aspect of the game that kept luring him back.

There was a time when the sight of either Maughan or Brady on the field on All-Ireland day seemed unlikely. Although last September was not a particularly happy return to the high altar for either man, at least they were there.

This weekend, they are back at square one. The league is a bit like the start of the Grand National. A bunch of contenders bunched roughly together, highly strung and full of insecurities, letting off steam, all riddled with possibility and uncertainty. That is Mayo's lot just as it is the case in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Donegal, Meath, perhaps even Tyrone. It is not a bad way to be but it will certainly be better for Mayo if Maughan and Brady can sing off the same hymn sheet again.

Brady had long advertised his desire to migrate south once again but shelved that plan after becoming absorbed by Ballina's fine run in the club championship. Now, Mayo is a big, draughty old county but it would seem the athletic midfielder has done a fine job in not bumping into the county manager in quite a while. He noted this week that he has not spoken to Maughan in months. Maughan, in return, has complained of trying to phone big David at least 40 times.

We cannot know the reason for this. Perhaps Brady has developed a phobia for phones. Maybe he went to see a late night showing of The Aviator and left his Nokia in the popcorn bucket. Maybe he, like so many of the younger generation, is a firm advocate of the text and is waiting only to read: "R U OK FR DA MATCH?" Perhaps John Maughan has misplaced the number and is constantly ringing an entirely different David Brady, a 50-year-old former junior footballer from Bohola who although flattered by the sudden interest is frankly terrified the new captain might demand that he plants some corn rows in his hair.

Who knows? But the bet here is that sooner or later, both men will connect. It shows a rare kind of humility and honesty on Maughan's part to admit he is chasing the long-serving Brady. Many other managers would publicly banish the player in a fit of pique. And Brady, who to the best of our knowledge is generally regarded as a cheerful and readily available voice at the end of the phone, cares about nothing if not Mayo football.

Every county has its unsorted laundry at this point of the season. As ever, Mayo's is just that bit more interesting. It was surprising to note that after last September, practically every person in the country had an opinion and a theory on Mayo football. Most of it seemed complimentary although there was the odd voice of dissent, with one acquaintance dismissing the entire pantheon of great Mayo teams as "collars-up bastards". And bizarrely, he wasn't even a Roscommon man.

Collars up or not, Mayo were a breath of fresh air last year from the very beginning, when a novice team held Dublin to just three points on a strange day in Castlebar.

Appropriately enough, it is Dublin again this evening, this time in the capital. Although David Brady feels he cannot attend, you can be certain deep down it will kill him not to be there.

It is the classic and never-ending Mayo conundrum, a place where football can never be a simple matter.