An ever-increasing correlation between spring and summer achievements

The league is the great enigma of the GAA. It’s nice to win but nobody wants to seem too worried about it. It’s always taken seriously but never too seriously. A county in the higher echelons might target the league, they might even set out to win it, but it’s seldom they’ll freely admit to doing so.

Though the league will ultimately define those counties that cannot even dare to dream of ultimate summer glory, for those with greater ambition, it only serves as a means to an end. They’ll live every moment in the moment but, for the most part, the memory will haze over relatively quickly.