Sixteen teams, not eight, should be jostling for league

Every year we keep hearing that the national league is the second-most important competition in Gaelic football, but it’s actually not true.

For most teams in Division One and Two it is their third most important competition. A league would mean a lot to Tyrone this year but not as much as an Anglo-Celt Cup and an Anglo-Celt Cup wouldn’t mean as much as a Sam Maguire.

Then if you’re in Division Four it is the most important competition. Anyone who has read Damian Lawlor’s terrific account of the Waterford footballers in 2009 will know that they were working on the dream of promotion to Division Three, not beating Cork that summer.