LIKE Winston Churchill said about another competition back in the 1940s, Sunday's League final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh was not the end nor even the beginning of the end but it was the end of the beginning. From here, the championship starts to roll.

The tact that recent NFL winners have come up short during the summer none of the seven this decade have followed with an All Ireland and only two with a provincial title isn't the same thing as saying that the League is irrelevant or even that winning the League is irrelevant.

In fact, bad and all as recent winners' records are, the subsequent fortunes of defeated finalists have been infinitely worse. It can be argued that this is not merely coincidence and herein lies the concern for Cork after their poor showing at the weekend.

Essentials of League campaigns and the interpretations they will bear do not vary very much. One timeworn indicator is that unless a team go on to win the League, they are better off not qualifying for the knockout stages. Those couple of places in Division One from which teams move to neither quarterfinals nor the relegation trapdoor are quite attractive for a lot of counties.

The trouble for a side that progresses to the later rounds - particularly one from a lower division - is that the confidence and morale built up during the campaign are put at risk by the possibility of a hammering or a disappointing defeat.

If a team doesn't drop out of the spotlight before the quarterfinals, it is best to depart before the final. Losing should attract as little publicity as possible and the further a team goes, the greater the media interest. Only one county can win the title but every other can learn something and this latter consideration can be more important.

Two years ago, Tyrone looked unaccountably pleased with themselves after losing to Derry at the semifinal stage. This was particularly baffling given the constant beatings they had been enduring in matches with their neighbours. The point was that Eugene McKenna and Art McRory had had certain suspicions about Derry confirmed and this would be useful in the coming championship.

Combined with this knowledge was the security that nothing much had been given away. Tyrone lost narrowly and Derry ground on to win the first of two successive Leagues, presumably oblivious to the satisfaction of their rivals. In the event, the teams' summer meeting was a freakish affair three men, two from Tyrone, sent off - to which it would be difficult to apply too many theories. But their unshakeable confidence that they had discovered weaknesses in Derry's game was a factor in Tyrone's win.

The problem for Cork this year is one of timing. The final is the worst stage of the competition to lose. A team can enjoy a good run but when they lose, their participation obviously ends on a negative note unless they have extracted the sort of mitigating comfort Tyrone did.

There have been many examples of teams whose defeat in the knockout stages has unravelled all the good work done up to that point. Laois spoiled good League campaigns in 1994 and 95 by losing badly in the semi finals both years. They went on to perform poorly in the championship.

Last year, Cork enjoyed a good League up until a spiritless defeat by Donegal in the semifinal. The torpor lasted into the championship during which they were lucky to beat Clare and lost their Munster title to Kerry.

The big question facing the team this summer is how completely they can recover from the damage done to their dignity by a fourth successive loss to Kerry. Two of those matches might have been unimportant - although Larry Tompkins's casual dismissal of the McGrath Cup should end up occupying wall space in Clare's dressing room but the other two have been big occasions.

A further difficulty with losing a League final is that once a team has reached it, there's no compelling reason not to win it. Failure to do so can be explained only by a conscious decision not to compete. Whereas there isn't a manager who would I throw a NFL final if he thought it would enhance his teams championship prospects, it's hard to think of circumstances in which losing would be such a blessing. In addition, there is no evidence that Cork went into Sunday's match indifferent to winning.

Aside from the functional reason that winning a League final makes no greater demands on a team's time than losing one, there is also the fact that the event is the first big occasion of the inter county year. Presenting early testimony that your team is off the pace on such afternoons is bad psychology.

Motivationally, it cuts both ways. A team demoralised by a poor showing can find it hard to recover self confidence but if players have under performed, a backlash can result. Between now and their next possible meeting with Kerry, Cork will have the advantage of what should be a demanding match against Clare which should help clarify the team's direction.

Kerry also have work to do. The most plausible reason why League winners experience such difficulty in the championship is that a big match victory and a bit of silverware tends to obscure weaknesses. Effectively, Kerry are locked into the selection that won two days ago and they have only one match before a Munster final against the winners of the provincial preliminary group.

Derry's victories over the last two years disguised the extent to which some of team was ageing and also their vulnerability to being run at in defence. Kerry have weaknesses of their own but they showed at the weekend that they have become adept at coping with them and also that the team is improving with each match registering another notch in their measure of progress.