Not often does a final speak volumes about the health of an entire competition, but the National Football League final yesterday seemed to perfectly encapsulate all the elements which made the competition this year such a drab affair. Bad weather, poor football, one sending-off and a lousy attendance. Summer can't come quickly enough.

Cork were duly crowned champions, but as we left the city no bonfires were blazing and no open-top buses were cruising the South Mall. The triumph was small print stuff and won't be dug out again as a reference point until some GAA archaeologist goes through the league records wondering whatever became of various champions. The GAA announced an official attendance of 10,000, an example perhaps of the organisation hoping to fool some of the people about all of the people who weren't there. It looked as if a couple of thousand less than that were on hand, but we won't know for sure until the next life when the indulgences are handed out.

The lesson which the GAA surely needs to learn, if not for themselves then for the benefit of their sponsors, is that the resurrection of deals made between counties 10 or 15 years ago is no longer a sufficient reason to let the counties decide where big games will be played.

In the end, the play never rose above the occasion. The game was limp and was described afterwards in both winning and losing dressing-rooms as a damp squib.

Dublin's Jason Sherlock was the only thing obviously ablaze. His six-minute cameo appearance as a substitute in the second half featured him apparently decking Cork corner back Anthony Lynch and making a wild challenge on goalkeeper Kevin O'Dwyer before referee Brian White asked him to leave. His suspension is expected to bring him up to the eve of Dublin's championship debut against Louth.

Dublin fell behind in the fourth minute of play to a Ciaran O'Sullivan free kick and never got back on level terms. Cork's defence, the most vaunted part of their emerging side, smothered most of Dublin's creativity and when Dublin got a fisted goal in the dying seconds, their score doubled. "We were poor," said Tom Carr, Dublin's manager afterwards.

"We're happy enough," said his counterpart, Larry Tompkins, none too gleefully.

Indeed Cork will read little into the result, as Dublin were inept. The conditions were of the sort which they hopefully won't have to face again, while a positive was that their forward line clicked a little more smoothly than might have been expected given the surface.

Cork will be quite content that they had four of their forwards score from play, while also managing to dig out a large chunk of midfield possession.

In the early stages of the match, and again in the dying minutes, Dublin looked capable of breaching the Cork defence, but apart from Des Farrell and Jim Gavin, nobody managed to reach a sustained level of performance.

In contrast, Cork had a few players who rose to the occasion. Podsey O'Mahony cut loose yesterday with three points from play, while Joe Kavanagh and Aidan Dorgan aided and abetted to produce the most convincing Cork half forward display in some time.

"It was good to win," said manager Larry Tompkins, "but that's it really. Nobody went out to lose so it was a useful exercise. We have work to do for the championship and this week we'll be thinking about that again."

For Dublin the worries continue. The number 15 jersey has been on a short-term lease for the past few years, and this season looks like being no exception. Is there anyone left in the city who hasn't been tried top of the left for Dublin? Paul Curran, who has been sitting in Dublin dressing-rooms for the entire decade since Cork last won the league, framed the perspective of the beaten side to the lack of crowd and occasion.

"We weren't really too bothered by it. Maybe 50,000 more people would have turned up in Croke Park, but that would have left it just as empty. We didn't care. We wanted to win the game and we were beaten by a better team on the day."