Quarrying nuggets from the spring season

As Gaelic football stands at a critical point in its evolution, we wait giddily at the starting gate for the National Football League 2014 to begin.

We come to the National League again with that insistent feeling that we’ve written all this before. Does the league matter or not? Is it a chance to lazily run through your lines, or a full dress rehearsal before opening night?

With a little of satellite television’s weakness for hyperbole and overreaction, the media seems to have decided in recent years that the league really is a big deal.