National Football League/Mayo v Dublin: Keith Duggantalks to Dublin manager Paul Caffrey and Mayo's John O'Mahony ahead of tomorrow's clash

Hype will inevitably see tomorrow's meeting of Mayo and Dublin in Castlebar billed as a reprise of the exceptional All-Ireland semi-final the counties produced last August. However, it is unlikely the pre-match talk in either dressingroom will pay much attention to the "ifs and buts" of that strange and classic championship match.

What is of more relevance is that this brings together the two most heavily scrutinised football counties in the game. John O'Mahony's decision to bow to popular demand and return to the hot seat of Mayo football was the only workable tonic available to Mayo folk after the crushing disappointment of last September's All-Ireland defeat to Kerry.

Football is bound to be high on the agenda as the Ballaghderreen man goes canvassing around his constituency as a Fine Gael candidate in the forthcoming election and O'Mahony has repeatedly stressed the team and management need to be given seasons rather than months in order to prosper. However, O'Mahony's return has sent expectations soaring again.

And in Dublin, the spotlight is always glaring. The novel showcase match under floodlights between Dublin and Tyrone was a spectacular beginning to the league but it was also a vivid portrayal of the kind of public energy and fascination that follows this Dublin team. That they could fill Croke Park in February was a great confirmation of their home support but it also brought very concentrated, early-season pressure to perform.

Dublin came tantalisingly close to reaching their first All-Ireland final since 1995 in that August semi-final and as the league enters its definitive period, they find themselves up against Mayo again.

"When the fixture list came out, it wasn't as if we pencilled in this particular game as some kind of revenge day," says Dublin manager Paul Caffrey. "As a league game, it is very important for both sets of players and we will be going to Castlebar looking for a performance. We want to consolidate our place and to build on what we have achieved to this point. League games serve a different purpose so it is pointless comparing it to what happens in the championship.

"But it is a game that will tell us more about ourselves and what would not be acceptable from the players is a repeat of the form they showed against Donegal."

Caffrey is quite open about the disheartening nature of Dublin's defeat in Ballyshannon, when they were utterly eclipsed in the second half. He allows that it wasn't fully clear then that Dublin were encountering the form team of the league but dismisses the fact the pitch was slippery and heavy, hardly the kind of ground that Dublin's athletic forwards thrive on.

"I wouldn't proffer that as an excuse. We were in a position to get a result at half-time. We had played a lot of good football and when we left the dressingroom for the second half, I was expecting a big performance. Donegal were good, we couldn't control their input to the match.

"But we had a responsibility to ourselves. And what happened was very disappointing. It was a wake-up call and we had to have a hard think about ourselves over the following week."

Since that time Dublin improved dramatically, with a very comfortable win over the erratic Cork men before overwhelming Fermanagh last weekend. And that is the paradox of the league. Handy victories mean vital points. But losing matches and returning home in crummy mood is probably more useful for a manager. Caffrey went along to watch the Dublin hurlers playing Galway and afterwards, he was surprised to see that Ger Loughnane had described the loss as "a massacre".

It was plain to anyone watching that deserving though the city hurlers were of the win, the game was hardly a blow out: Galway squandered a few goal chances and even had a late opportunity to deny the resurgent Dubs. But the defeat gave Loughnane a chance to sharpen his team and to keep them on edge.

"It is the two ends of the spectrum. We felt miserable leaving Donegal but no question, it was a valuable experience. We had to look hard at what happened us. Whereas last weekend, we played Fermanagh at a time when they haven't managed to show anything like their form of the past few years and we scored 3-15 or whatever. But how much is there to say about that afterwards?"

Which is not to suggest he didn't appreciate the win. It is just that Caffrey is anxious as keen to keep perspective now as he has been in the broiling days of summer, when Dubs fever sweeps the city.

Caffrey largely kept his counsel after the Leinster championship victory and the destruction of Westmeath in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

And in the wake of that dramatic and narrow loss to Mayo, he endured the fierce analysis that all Dublin managers post-Kevin Heffernan have come under and returned for this league as inscrutable as ever.

In that sense, he is comparable to O'Mahony. Just as the Mayo manager did not get over-excited after watching Mayo defeat the All-Ireland champions on the first day of the league, he has been measured in his verdict on their performances since. In last week's victory down in Cork, it was the small things that gave him the most pleasure.

"It was the kind of league game that can often run away from you," O'Mahony acknowledges. "I suppose it came against the odds. Cork played terrific stuff at times but we never came up. The goal came fairly quickly after half-time and our players never dropped their heads."

As O'Mahony watched last summer's All-Ireland semi-final between the teams as a spectator in the stands, he can hardly use it as much as a reference point. He admits it would be "codding ourselves" to deny that the memory of that match will be knocking around in the minds of the players and supporters. But he doesn't believe last year's heat will be the governing factor in this meeting.

"Look, we have our own motivations for this match. And I am sure Dublin do as well. There are on a bit of a roll and certainly got past Fermanagh with much greater ease than we did. But I think this is a very different proposition. For a start, several players who started in the championship game are injured. And the league points gives this match an importance in its own right. I certainly think there will be a keen edge to it.

"Any time Dublin come to visit, it engages people. Tommy Lyons has often talked about that traditional rivalry between the city and country teams and I suppose this game encapsulates that. And there is a history of very good games between the counties, from the 1985 All-Ireland semi-final to last summer."

Mayo have been efficient and workmanlike through this league, making light of a formidable injury list which seems to worsen by the week. All-Star Alan Dillon and Marty McNicholas both sat out training during the week, but ultimately O'Mahony was able to name the same team that defeated Cork.

If there is a positive spin to be put on the long-term absence of key players like David Brady, Ciarán McDonald and Ronan McGarrity, it is that emerging players have been given plenty of minutes.

"That's the thing, and the one pledge we made ourselves was not to use the injuries as an excuse. We are definitely getting to see how deep our panel is and that is one of the objectives of the league."

With the temperatures rising, though, and Castlebar bound to draw a big crowd, this has the makings of one of those league games that take on a once-off championship feel. Both managers agree that the once sleepy competition has been radically altered.

"There are two factors there," reckons Caffrey. "There has been irrefutable evidence in recent years that teams who go well in the league tend to be there at the business end of the championship. The other thing this year has been the threat of the "the fall".

"Dublin have been consistent in playing Division One football for nine years or so and we want to stay afloat. Now, I think that next year, there probably won't be much difference between Division One and Two, except in perception. I think there will be high-quality matches in both divisions.

"But Division Three would be wholly unacceptable and teams have been playing to avoid that as much as anything. I mean, when we went to Limerick in the second game, we encountered as fit a team as any we have faced. They had us to the pin of our collar in that second half and I said to Mickey Ned (O'Sullivan) afterwards that I hoped they put the same into their other games because they would get a lot out of it."

Of course, that is the thing about Dublin. Other teams see that famous pale blue shirt and they automatically raise their game. It is a compliment born out of respect for tradition. And one that Mayo will be anxious to pay in Castlebar.

As league games go, this is as good as it gets.