It is the second most important competition on the GAA calendar and yet the number of managers and players willing to queue up and tell us it does not matter is perplexing.
The correlation between league and championship form (if not outright success) is well established since the leagues jumped into the January–April slot. So, we know the league matters.
But we also know the league does not really matter.
The chaos of the opening four months of a team’s playing season is now more or less behind them and the majority of squads and managements are taking stock.
Each will wonder if they got what they wanted out of the league, and if you ended up relegated, I can only surmise you didn’t (unless your team is some sort of crazy horse that prefers life in the lowlands).
Most will comfort themselves that they blooded a few young fellas, got through the league without any serious injury or row in the camp and got a chance to trot a few of the veterans back on to the stage.
After that, nothing else really matters.
Locally, I am aware of a keen Roscommon supporter in the west of the county who was having problems sleeping at the very thought of Division 1 football next year for his beloved Primrose and Blue.
Would they survive the rarefied atmosphere of life in the premier division? Did they really want to get promoted? I even heard of a conspiracy theory: John Evans was throwing games as he felt his team were not ready yet for Division 1!
After match-day four and a particularly excellent result against Down, my Rossie man fretted over their imminent promotion and complained to his local publican of irregular sleep patterns at the very thought of it.
A week and one horrible defeat to Laois later, he was back to his standard eight hours of shut-eye. But the win last week v Westmeath sees him once again walking around the village in a distressed state. That’s the league for you.
I have long since agreed that the league tables don’t lie and you generally end up in a position commensurate with your team’s form and ability.
The exception to this rule will be the All-Ireland finalists/semi-finalists from the previous year. Generally speaking, they can free wheel through the spring and focus on a clear goal: staying up. So, don’t be too worried about Kerry or Mayo: you will be seeing both again in August.
This weekend’s semi-finals will see the coming together of probably the best four teams in the country just now, which is essentially what the league decides.
For sure, Cork and Dublin are the top two and both Monaghan and Donegal have further underlined their place as two of the top six teams in the country.
The pairings are more than interesting.
Cork, the form team of the opening few months, will face very difficult opponents in a tactically astute manager and team from Donegal. Dublin will be a little anxious to be facing Monaghan just seven days after trouncing them, as that result will be so difficult to manage in the build-up to this game.
Let’s look at the first game on the Clár.
Away from home, in a game with plenty of needle, the northerners confirmed their appetite for battle and ability to play without Murphy. This was a tremendous result for them as a squad and further confirmation of their tactical methodology – a most difficult one to first of all figure out, and then break down.
I was very impressed with the efforts of Patrick McBrearty, Martin McElhinney, Odhrán McNiallais and Frank McGlynn.
When you factor in the absence of Neil Gallagher also you get a real idea of how decent this Donegal team is in the post-McGuiness era, an era we were convinced would spell a long hibernation for Donegal football.
Not so, it appears, and they will have a 50-50 chance to defeat the form team to date.
My sense of this game is that a win is not critical for Donegal as their focus has switched to Tyrone and the month of May – that game is only five weeks away.
At any rate, Donegal are satisfied that they can compete with anything Cork might throw at them later this year – they proved that only a few weeks ago when they had a point to spare in a hard-fought regular season league game.
For further evidence, recall Donegal’s lack of interest in the 2014 Division 2 final v Monaghan. That bad defeat meant very little a few weeks later in the championship.
Cork have no such focus (it is nine weeks until they tog for Championship) and the performances of Colm O’Neill, Brian Hurley, Mark Collins, Fintan Gould, Eoin Cadogan and their colleagues have been consistent, committed, resilient and damn good.
They will take beating and will look to a league title as a sure way to restore confidence after a very mediocre 2014 season.
An opportunity to get a big win on the national stage should never be sniffed at and I feel Cork will just have enough to carry the day. But I repeat: just enough.
The second semi-final between Dublin and Monaghan looks like a mismatch if we take the most recent result as our form guide.
Add in the noise the home fans will make and the Dublin players’ familiarity with the open expanses of Croke Park (the advantage of a home venue at the later stages of leagues and championships bestows uncommon advantage to Dublin) and Monaghan might as well not turn up, right?
Hardly: Dublin will not play as well as last week and Monaghan for their part, will not play as poorly.
Mentally, this will be a very tough game for the odds-on favourites to prepare for. Nothing short of a smooth performance and a handsome margin of victory is expected - demanded? - from the Dubs by their fans, and that will not be a simple pressure to deal with.
But Dublin are multiple champions of league and championship at this stage and can handle both expectation and pressure.
The returning MDMA and Diarmuid Connolly are improving with every outing and when you throw in the usual suspects like Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon up front, then this team, when they motor, will be hard to stop, by anybody.
Monaghan have named an unchanged team and obviously management have put out a challenge to all associated with last Sunday to redeem their tattered reputations.
They will tighten up at the back and adopt the standard Ulster defensive formation in an effort to frustrate the Metropolitans.
They will mix in the ingredients of physicality, commitment, hunger and edge and try to get the ball to their most skilled practitioners (the Hugheses and Conor McManus) and hope that will be enough. It will hardly be.
Dublin can win this one by a handful of points, if not scores, and I expect they will. With little or no competition in Leinster for May, June or July they need to road test what they have and this is a fine opportunity to do that.
