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.

But that inconvenience is nothing compared to the cruel straitjacket imposed on the emotions of Mayo supporters last Saturday evening. It was heart-breaking to listen to them afterwards — lads who, God knows, could do with an auld boost — talk down the beating they gave Dublin.

To his credit, Setanta commentator Mike Finnerty tried to rally his countymen, insisting it would be recalled as a display for the ages. But all we heard elsewhere was how disinterested Dublin were. Only a game? It was only the league.