It’s not today nor yesterday that a former Director-General of the GAA, Liam Mulvihill, described the National League as a competition that starts with a bang but ends in a whimper.

That was a keen observation when the Longford native made it – I’m guessing it would have been at least fifteen years ago – but, with the advent of the split season and the highly constricted fixture schedule we’re saddled with nowadays, it’s one that has added resonance at this point in time.

It’s long been the case that counties approach the League with differing mindsets.

Take Kerry, for example. A few times under Jack O’Connor they went bald-headed for it – Jack having a soft spot for a seasonal double, more than once using the League as a springboard for Sam Maguire success – but other times they’ve seemed far less pushed. This year’s a good example, as they’ve a training camp in Portugal booked for the week before the Division One final.

What befell us last year serves as a cautionary tale for others. Kevin McStay made no secrecy of his wish to pursue League honours last year but that success was then undercut within a week by Roscommon’s Connacht Championship ambush.

You could, of course, argue that neither our League title win nor our subsequent loss to the Rossies mattered much in the grander scheme of things last year.  It’s easy to conclude, however, that our passage towards the serious business of the summer could well have been eased had we managed to avoid Croke Park at the start of April.

When you think about it, that’s a sad reflection on the standing of the National League, one the GAA should really be giving some thought to, assuming they’re looking at tweaking the current fixtures straitjacket at some point.

On the podcast this week, Colm Boyle argued that we should be going all out to retain our Division One title. In a rational world, Boyler is, of course, correct – the League is one of only two national titles on offer each year and every team should be doing its utmost to win both of them. Sadly, however, the world of GAA fixtures remains a long way from rational, which means that League success is seldom afforded the priority it deserves.

Despite Kevin McStay’s amusing retort to media enquiries at the start of this year about whether or not he planned to take a more relaxed approach to the League this time round, musing about what matches the assembled scribes would want his team to lose, it seems obvious that we’re not doing everything in our power to emulate the class of 1939. That was, of course, the most recent time a Mayo team won back-to-back League titles.

To my mind, it’s not necessarily a case that we don’t want to do this. It’s more that we can’t afford to take the risk.

Bar some convoluted mathematical gymnastics, we’ve already done enough to stay up this year. Indeed, by the time the ball is thrown in at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday, it could be confirmed that neither Monaghan nor Roscommon can catch us (which will be the case if both of them fail to win their Round 6 matches).

This means we’re all but guaranteed to be able to treat Sunday’s meeting with Derry and the following weekend’s clash with Monaghan as free hits. That, in turn, enables us to look ahead without impediment to the New York trip at the start of next month and then, barring a Big Apple disaster, the showdown with Roscommon at Dr Hyde Park a fortnight after the Bronx.

Which raises an obvious question about our first League meeting with the Oak Leaf County in nine years: are we bothered about it at all?

Whatever about us, they’re likely to be. Conor Glass, speaking to the media this week, made no bones about his county’s desire to qualify for the Division One final and, once at Croke Park, to claim their first national title since they last won League honours in 2008.

If they’re to do this, then Derry will almost certainly have to beat either Kerry or Dublin in the final. Like Jack O’Connor, Mickey Harte is fond of his League titles and he’ll know that a win in the final over one of the Big Two could help push the Oak Leafers to the next level.

In one sense, it would be great if we took them on properly on Sunday. We’re the only top-level team this current Derry outfit have yet to meet, in League or Championship, and it’d be no harm for us to leave a few marks on them. Just in case we see them again before the year is out.

I’m not sure we’re going to do this, though, and, reading the tea leaves on the blog this week, my feeling is that Mayo supporters don’t expect us to either.

There’s broad support on the blog for using these final two League games to get minutes into those players who have seen little or no action to date. If that means dropped League points then so be it – there’s little appetite among fans to see us aiming to claim what would be a 14th League title.

What’s striking, both on the blog and also among club members on Discord, is how little talk there is at all in the run-up to Sunday’s game.

Last year it was so evident that fans were – often by necessity, given the sheer cost involved in match-days nowadays, particularly away ones – picking and choosing which fixtures to get to. Now it seems that, depending on the game and its perceived importance (or lack of it) to us, many are tuning out from the online debate as well.

As Sunday’s game clashes with the national holiday, with many having perhaps made other plans for the long weekend, this could well prove to be one where the attendance levels are lower than normal. If this happens, whether or not such disinterest extends to our team selection and our on-field performance remains to be seen.

Are we bothered about this one? Three days out from the game, my clear sense is that, for supporters at least, the answer does not appear to be resoundingly in the affirmative.