National Football League: It's an odd thing the National League, worth doing well in but not worth killing yourself to do well in it. Teams pass through the competition as works in progress, each with different priorities and perspectives on where they are going.

Yesterday evening at four o'clock in Killarney the footballers of Kerry gathered together to travel to Cork for their first competitive game since the All-Ireland final. A first-round league game shouldn't matter to All-Ireland champions but some games within the competition take on their own context.

Last Sunday Kerry hosted Clare in a low-key challenge game in Listowel. They won well with a few new faces and noted in mitigation that Clare were missing the Kilmurry-Ibrickane contingent. Not too excited, not too exciting was the verdict.

For those in attendance the fact that the champions appeared to have some appetite was the most encouraging aspect.

"I thought it would be tough to get them going," says manager Jack O'Connor. "But there has been a good appetite since they got back from the holidays. We're a good bit behind in fitness compared to where we were last year but the appetite is there and the appetite to work hard is there."

For the league Kerry will basically be trying out their panel. O'Connor had 30 players with him last September and although some of them aren't back yet he will be attempting to give the rest the opportunity to play football at this time of the year. Some will stake a claim for the championship. Others will understand better why they will never do that.

"The league last year was a lot different. To be honest I don't know how important it is overall but I know that we don't like losing matches. The opening rounds will tell us a lot. We don't think we're in great shape but we're not too bad.

"The league is the place to find out if they have the appetite. In November it's easy to believe fellas when they say they are still hungry. Last year we found our resilience in the league, we came back a few times from big deficits and when we found ourselves behind in the summer we never panicked."

Work-wise, Kerry have a way to go. They've been visiting the gym and doing some running and ball work at the Dr Crokes facility in Killarney but they are looking at the three-week break after their second league match as a time when they will do a lot of back-breaking work for the summer.

They holidayed as a group in Las Vegas and Cancun and five of the panel went off to Hong Kong with the All Stars. The effects of the good times lingered.

"We came back from the holiday on a Wednesday and played McGrath Cup on Sunday and got beaten by Tipperary," says O'Connor. "Bad start but we've played a couple of games against the under-21s and Clare. This past week you wouldn't have to have been reminding fellas."

Looking around his dressing-room O'Connor sees players with plenty left to prove. Séamus Moynihan, he estimates, will have motivation enough for the entire squad. Darragh Ó Sé won't be far behind. Then there is the competition for places throughout the team: "It's in the players' own hands if they want to go again. Fellas might try to take short-cuts through the league normally. They won't do it to us. We've eight or nine backs looking for places, four midfielders, 10 or 11 forwards. That keeps them honest."

What has the league given Kerry?

"When we started last year as a management we were under pressure. We got the chance to grow into the job. For the team, well the old Kerry team, could scrape a few wins when they weren't at their best. We'd be hoping that we've learned how to do that."

DESSIE DOLAN reflects on 2004 with the good cheer befitting a man who won his first provincial medal during that year. Not that there was anything about Westmeath's league form which suggested a breakthrough of that magnitude was on the way.

"The league is useful. It's no harm to have a bit of form when you're coming out of it. Last year we were struggling a lot but towards the end we got a couple of results that kept us up. I suppose you don't want to lose every game but it's not the be-all and end-all if it happens. You learn as you go."

Dolan notices that some sides show their hand and declare their intentions during the league while others prefer to at least convey the impression that they aren't too interested.

"You see Tyrone, they like to win every game. They come out and you see their intensity early on in the year and you can see the intentions of a few other teams when you come up against them. It matters a lot to them. Then there's counties and you can tell that they aren't up for it."

Westmeath are in two minds about the entire thing. League success (they won a couple of Division Two titles in recent years as well as surviving in Division One last year) has been crucial, Dolan reckons, to the team's overall view of itself and he cites the day last spring when they beat Mayo as one of his better experiences in the maroon.

"We were getting the crap beaten out of us for quite a few matches and we managed to stay up. That was a highlight that game but overall, staying up in Division One has been good. We beat Mayo and survived and that gave us a bit of confidence going into the summer. We were a Division One team and in Division One there is a noticeable difference. Seven thousand at least at a game. Good atmosphere. Good pitches. We'd played a string of games and lost them. Then we scraped a result against Fermanagh and beat Mayo and the other teams all slipped up so we hung in. The league can be worthwhile like that."

Westmeath got back to the training pitch in November. Just doing a bit to make the hard slog less of a shock to the system when it came. The team went to Cape Town for a holiday but work commitments kept Dolan at home. It was important for their development for Westmeath to stay up last year but they are doing nothing special for the league.

"This time of the year we'll just keep slogging it out. Even during the league we'll keep doing a lot of hard stuff. The championship groundwork is going on all the time. Before the league starts we do a lot of running and it eases slightly but not much."

As a forward Dolan professes to hate this time of the year when the pitches are gluey and it's hard to get away from corner backs whose hands are gluey on Dessie's jersey.

"They get a hold of you and it's hard to escape them. You're trying to shoot and you're tired from the heavy ground so you look a bit stupid dropping it into the goalie's hands. That's a good thing about Division One. Most pitches these days are good, so no forward should complain too much."

They'll take it all in their stride, managed as they are by a man who finds league fare no more refreshing than a glass of warm water.

"Páidí (Ó Sé) is a championship man alright; once that starts he's in his element. He likes Leinster because he gets to go to Croke Park a good bit. I suppose a bit of Páidí's outlook has rubbed off on us."

JOE KERNAN, as an Ulster manager, gets to go to Croke Park a lot also. Last year included a visit for the Ulster final and 2003 included a league reprise of the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin the year before. Huge events, with the league game in particular being an example of how a competition can beg, steal or borrow momentum. Tomorrow they make the long journey south to play Wexford. It would be forgivable if the game meant more to the hosts than to the guests. Joe demurs.

"I suppose the first thing is I'm glad to be back with competitive games coming up. The league is a good test. We're going to Wexford and if we don't win it's a long journey home and we won't enjoy it. On the other hand a one-point win would make me very happy. Last year before the league I made the mistake of targeting games that would stand out. We came a cropper. One game stands out from here. Wexford."

This year is an unusual one for Armagh. If Kerry are at the top of the hill and Westmeath are still ascendent, Armagh are unsure whether they are going up or down. So long at or near the peak they now have several players who are nearing the end of careers which have become more intense and draining in the last half decade.

Last year's provincial final performance was as near to perfection as a team have had in recent seasons. The exit in the quarter-final against Fermanagh wiped the memory clean away. For the previous few winters the team had holidays as a group. Last year the players didn't ask for a holiday and the management opted to leave well enough alone.

"This is our fourth year in charge," says Kernan. "We're not starting from scratch in one way and in another way, we are. It's a new season, we've a few new faces in. With the under-21 success last year I actually think we're better off. The league will be useful but so far I'm missing players due to college and there's seven of the lads with Crossmaglen so hopefully, they'll be busy until March 18th. At this minute we're working without them. One door closes, another opens. Hopefully somebody will use the league as a way of stepping up."

Armagh typically under-perform in the league. Kernan is eager to end that pattern.

"I'd like in a while for us to be saying that we're in the semi-finals and then looking at it again. For a few reasons. We've been there before and not done ourselves justice. Two, the financial reward for the county board would be great; and three, it's a trophy that no Armagh team has won before, to have that possibility would be good. There's plenty of reasons for us to be serious. And it's good championship preparation."

Beyond that it's about how his team apply themselves. In training he has noted it's how the lads apply themselves, some fellas mad to get started, others for whom it's going to take longer for the burner to boil.

"Most of all I want a clean bill of health for them all coming out of the league and to see signs of a spark which will still be evident in the championship. There's nothing better for team morale than to win. These last few years we've faded near the end each time. A good winning habit would be fine."

February and the opening round of the league stands like the portal to a new year. By September it will be forgotten about but for now the low intensity interest freshens like spring air.