Some years ago, a National League-winning captain brandished the trophy and denounced talk of "secondary competitions". This was a matter of some amusement to me, as the player in question had used that very phrase in an interview the previous week. At least that was a time when there was a perceived need to keep up appearances. After Sunday's National Hurling League final, goalkeeper Brendan Cummins, awarded the sponsors' Man of the Match award for a series of marvellous saves, sensibly dispensed with doublespeak.

More or less invited by RTE Radio's Pat McAuliffe to wax enthusiastic about the victory, Cummins replied that the only thing on the team's mind was the championship match against Clare on June 3rd. Pressed about the "achievement" of having won a national title, Cummins said that they had won the league before but gone on to do badly in the championship, and that if this year's title didn't lead anywhere it would count for nothing.

There are a variety of reasons why teams have come to regard the league with circumspection. Some are based on team preparation and the difficulty of getting teams to peak more than once in a year, and some are based on a reluctance to show their hand. But the over-riding consideration has to be the lack of any obvious connection between success in the spring and later in the year.

This isn't a new phenomenon. A survey of the last 30 league campaigns shows that the title has been followed by the All-Ireland on only three occasions, and effectively by only two teams - Kilkenny won back-to-back doubles in 1982-83. But the rate of benefit for teams reaching the league final is in fact a little broader than this.

Losing finalists actually have a better record of subsequent championship success. On the basis that you learn more from defeat than victory, this isn't too surprising. Six years ago, Ger Loughnane predicted that Clare would win the Munster title despite a thorough defeat by Kilkenny. He based this assertion on Kilkenny's defence being superior to anything they would encounter in Munster.

Diarmuid Healy recalled a similar feeling after Cork defeated his Offaly team in Thurles 20 years ago. Unlike Clare, however, Offaly had already made the breakthrough at championship level and were Leinster champions. Within five months of losing that league final, Offaly won their first hurling All-Ireland.

Eight years previously, Wexford were impressive in beating Limerick in the league final. Paddy Downey reported in this paper that many had left Croke Park believing that they had seen that year's All-Ireland champions. This was true: but Limerick, not Wexford, would go on to fulfil the prophecy.

One significant aspect of the survey is that the list of counties who have benefited from league finals thins out in more recent times. In the last 12 years, only Clare have made the progress from league final to winning the All-Ireland the following autumn. In ways it's a self-perpetuating cycle. The more that powerful teams believe they have nothing to gain from winning the league, the less effort they put into it and the less successful they are. If teams that do well in the championship habitually do poorly in the league, interest in the league diminishes.

Maybe Tipperary and Clare can go on to All-Ireland success, but the modern trend is against it.

Tyrone footballers will have to face defending champions Armagh in the Ulster first round on Sunday week without Ciaran McBride. The big forward is suffering from a viral illness and may miss further matches this summer.

Colaiste na Sceilge, Cahirciveen, completed a unique All-Ireland Senior and Junior women's football title double when they overwhelmed Colaiste Mhuire from Tourmakeady, Mayo, with a powerpacked second-half display in the senior final yesterday.

WEXFORD (SFC v Carlow): T Murphy; M Coffey, G Jameson, T Burke; S Cush, B O'Donovan, B O hAnnaidh; D Coffey, B Sheehan; S O'Neill, R Coffey, T Harney; K Byrne, T Gill, AN Other. Subs: R Hollingsworth, C Toomey, B Whelan, K Manning, D Dillion, G Doran, T Hannon, J Behan, P Callaghan, O O hAnnaidh, D Jackman, R Stapleton.