The GAA will be pleased that its much reviled National Leagues have managed to attract some positive publicity. Last year bad weather and poor crowds plagued the knockout stages of the NFL - culminating in a crowd of just 9,000 attending the final which had been controversially fixed for Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Since that dismal afternoon, the value of the league has recovered somewhat and now the last three teams in this year's All-Ireland football championship were all semi-finalists in last spring's NFL.

Winners Cork have reached the final after Sunday's win over Mayo and will await either Meath, the team which they beat in April conceding only three points, or Armagh one of only two teams (along with Tyrone) to have beaten Cork this year.

Larry Tompkins's side are now in a position to become the second team in three years to win the league and championship double, following Kerry in 1997. Tompkins has reason to be happy with the league experience this year. Not alone did his team win the title but it evolved and developed during the course of the campaign.

The Munster champions' success provides a positive backdrop to yesterday's announcement of the fixtures for the coming 1999-2000 NFL season. Cork will begin their defence of the Church & General National Football League title against neighbours Kerry whom they defeated in last month's provincial final.

The first series of matches take place on October 31st and will be followed by two further series before Christmas and four more after the New Year break. There is a change in the coming season's competition in that the title will be decided between the top two teams in Divisions One A and One B.

Previously the winners in the lower divisions were entitled to enter at the quarter-final stage and could technically win the title after spending a season in Division Three or Four - although in recent times only Laois in 1986 managed that.

There will be a second-division title to be decided between the top two teams from Divisions Two A and Two B. Promotion and relegation will be in place as usual with two teams dropping from Divisions One A and One B and replaced by the top two in Divisions Two A and Two B.

Other opening-day fixtures besides Cork's in Division One A include a couple of local clashes. Outgoing All-Ireland champions Galway will re-enact last year's replayed Connacht final against Roscommon while current Ulster champions Armagh, who play Meath in next Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final, take on Donegal who took them to a replay in June.

In Division One B Mayo, defeated last Sunday, begin their campaign with a trip to Derry who lost heavily to Cork in last spring's league quarter-finals. Leinster champions Meath will be playing Clare. Promoted counties Fermanagh and Sligo face each other as do Down and Kildare.