No sign yet of spring thaw in gloomy Mayo

In a way, National League hurling and football is a lot like the wrestling: you can enjoy it for what it is as long as you suspend disbelief for the duration.

We’ll always, despite ourselves, talk down acracker, cloud it in gloomy talk like we do the first good day of the year. I suppose that’s the summer now.

Which is a pity after games like Cork-Tipp last Sunday. Even with no hay saved and no one, ultimately, bet, it’s a crying shame that we can’t give ourselves over to a splendid spectacle — laden with pinpoint shooting, fine interplay and, on Cork’s part, a stirring revival — without noting, at length, that it will never be this loose in May or June.