ANALYSIS:In the first of his new columns, DARRAGH O'SE,the former Kerry centrefielder outlines the benefits of the under-21 championship

THE LEAGUE is all over and as usual we didn’t learn a whole lot. Some teams were playing the competition just to get it out of the way. Some teams were playing it to sort themselves out for championship. If you could figure out which was which you were doing well.

Cork won the thing and they were probably the team that needed it the most. They have a lot of young players coming through but the core of the team have been around for a few years and everybody knew their potential. They had issues in their head though and for a team which had beaten Tyrone so well in the All-Ireland semi-final last year to go under so easily to Kerry in the final highlighted those issues.

It’s very hard to judge anything on the league final because Mayo were so poor (and it’s hard to see where Mayo can improve between now and summer) but Sunday in Croke Park will have gone a good way to sorting Cork out. A national title won in Croker on a day when they weren’t playing especially well and with almost half a dozen big name players missing. Conor Counihan was able to throw in a new half-back line without batting an eyelid. A few big names were injured and a couple of others like Colm O’Neill and Nicholas Murphy and Ger Spillane started on the bench.

I always enjoyed the league. It got you up to playing a level of football. It was the gap between the end of the league and the start of championship which always hurt. You either had too much time or too little. You finished the league playing well and had to maintain it then into championship or you finished with a lot of work to do and not enough decent matches to do it in.

Even before Sunday it was fair to say that Cork are the strongest team in the country at the moment. They have the league final experience now as a valuable lesson to the younger fellas, experience that you just can’t buy.

They are in the best possible place now, with a huge panel and a good mix of old timers and young guns. Donncha O’Connor gives them traditional centre-forward services at number 11 and I think Ciarán Sheehan is a huge talent. I saw him against Dublin last year in the under-21 semi-final in Thurles and I remember in the space of a couple of minutes he made a massive catch from a kickout, scored a good point and made a block to turn over possession. Three very different skills and a good engine to keep going while performing them.

Earlier he had scored five points the night Cork beat Kerry in the Munster under-21 quarter-final. Kerry went in as All-Ireland and Munster champions and lost by 11 points. Cork went on to win the All-Ireland for the second time in three years. Any underage team which instantly throws up senior players like Jamie O’Sullivan, Colm O’Neill and Sheehan is special. Cork got some new blood that will last them for a decade or so.

The under-21 grade has come under threat in recent years. I played for three years at that level and was lucky enough to win two All-Ireland medals in the last two years at the grade. When I was on the under-21 panel in 1995 I was training with the seniors, Ogie Moran was in charge at the time. I was 20 or so and not physically developed.

I enjoyed going back into under-21s. It gave you a heads up as to where you were at and where you were going. Inside in senior training you might be working hard just to tread water but back among your peers you’d feel your own strength and the confidence it would give you was massive.

When I look back at that time the list of players who came through speaks for itself. William Kirby, Donal Daly, Dara Ó Cinneide, Mike Hassett, Liam Hassett, Barry O’Shea, Denis Dwyer, Eamon Fitzmaurice and Mike Frank Russell. Kerry wouldn’t have the All-Ireland in 1997 but for the two under-21 victories in the previous years.

For me the under-21s is one of the most under-rated competitions on the calendar. I found the grade hugely important in the overall development and graduation as a football and it will be interesting to see what benefits Saturday’s finalists Dublin and Donegal draw from their adventures this year.

I’ve never really understood the calls to get rid of the grade. The under-21 Championship is a crucial competition and hugely important in a player’s overall development and graduation. Cork are showing the benefits of that at the minute and, from Kerry in the 1970s to Cork in the 1980s, teams have used the grade as a springboard to bigger things.

Cork are enjoying the benefit from the grade at the minute. For Kerry it was a bad year, losing to Tipp in the Munster final disappointed a few people but a lot is expected of Johnny Buckley of Killarney, Paul Geaney of Dingle and Barry John Keane.

Kerry got a lot out of the league this year and a lot of the players they have been looking at have been graduates of that 2008 side which won the under-21 title. Jack will have learned a lot while keeping things reasonably quiet and expectations low. Just to put the pressure on then I think Cork are probably the best team in the country but I think Kerry will beat Cork in Killarney this year and win the Munster championship.

I think Cork are getting to the point where they will have enough self belief to time their run this summer. They must be sick of winning Munster titles and then getting trimmed later in the year. There is more benefit for Kerry this year to be taking the short route.

I’m saying that while remembering how last summer I saw my whole career passing before my eyes, when Sligo were given a late penalty in Tralee. I remember thinking: ‘Is this how it ends now? No glory? Against Sligo, in Tralee of all places.’ If it was up in Sligo we could at least hide out in Galway for a week till the fuss died down. But Tralee! How will I get out of here?

Other than that a qualifier run does no harm at all to a team. Against Longford I felt we were in control. Antrim came down to us with a big physical approach and they lost the plot in the second half they were so focussed on getting the hits in. If you are going to flake you have to keep your mind on the football. The Meath team in the late 1980s were great at that. If the was an oul row on the field it never took from their concentration.

Cork have tried the whole thing of peaking to beat Kerry in early summer. The shortest possible route to Croke Park will suit Kerry So I think the roles will be reversed.

It’s spring, heading on for summer and nobody has shown their hands completely. Seeing as this is the first of these columns I’ll put my head on the block. I fancy Mayo in Connacht but not so sure after Sunday. Kerry in Munster, Dublin in Leinster but a good challenge from Kildare. Either Tyrone or Down in Ulster, Down haven’t played enough quality opposition so I’ll go for Tyrone. The All-Ireland to be decided by Cork and Kerry in Croke Park. Whoever wins that, will win it all!