Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

The Triple Crown doesn’t matter. The league doesn’t matter. That’s all I’ve been hearing recently. There was even the suggestion that one or two players will want to mind themselves on Saturday, because the big Munster v Leinster clash is coming up! Kilkenny have just lost to Tipperary and Cork in successive weeks, but no one seems to care, writes Emmet Moloney...

Winning a National League is now akin to winning a Triple Crown. Nice at the time, but quickly forgotten. This puzzles me.

Maybe we have been caught up in this winning mentality, intense language and all-consuming need to win things. Big things. Not Triple Crowns and National Leagues, but Grand Slams, World Cups and All-Irelands.

I blame Roy Keane. He started that nonsense by claiming that Ireland could have won the World Cup back in 2002. All of a sudden, the Cork hurlers were talking about being robbed of All-Irelands, not by referees but by the lack of a gym membership.

I took my first drink when I was eight years of age. In the function room of the Anner Hotel, my late father handed me the National League Cup to drink out of. About two hours earlier, Clare had won the league in a pulsating final against Kilkenny. I drank and passed the cup on. (My next drink was again in the company of my father, and it was 10 years later. Imagine if I’d been born in Kilkenny!) That Sunday night, there were bonfires awaiting us. On the Monday night, the Square in Ennis was full, with over 10,000 people. Where have those days gone? Surely the GAA could have a secondary senior competition that means something to an entire county?

Today the winning captain of the National League Final has three things to say in his speech. He thanks the backroom team, he calls for three cheers for his opponents and he emphasises that this is only the beginning – there are bigger days ahead, etc. We will then hear they were all back at training on the Tuesday night. I wonder if the cup is even filled these days?

Ireland will win the Triple Crown this Saturday, and this will be met with a loud “ho hum”, pity we didn’t repeat the slam or win the championship. Cop on, lads. It’s a Triple Crown. Back in 1982, most young fellas had the Triple Crown poster on their wall (all those of a certain vintage will remember this). Ollie Campbell was the hero and the country went mad. It was up there with winning a Eurovision final! In 1985, we won a Triple Crown by beating England with a last-minute drop goal. Cue more mayhem. On Saturday, it will be handshakes and the odd hug. Not winning, at the very least, a Triple Crown would be considered a disaster. After the Scots are put away, we will have five Triple Crowns banked. Yawn.

If Munster and/or Leinster don’t win the Heineken Cup this year, we will have more of the same. The year will be considered a poor one. How quickly we forget the epic losing years, the campaigns that all contributed so handsomely to making the successful year so special.

This is what comes from winning. The habit. The law of diminishing marginal returns sets in when we win more than one of anything and it takes away from what sport should be all about. Being the best rugby-playing nation from Scotland, Wales and England is no mean feat for this small island. It is not so long since one good win a year and putting it up to the English was the moral bar we set for ourselves. Now we have to win every match. And when we don’t, the first item up for review is that performance.

Every occasion should be celebrated. Birthdays, anniversaries, any cup that comes to a village, townland or parish. This is what sport really offers us. That chance to celebrate somewhere a bit unusual.

Being from Clare, I would be biased as regards our reaction to winning All-Irelands in 1995 and 1997. I firmly believe the entire country got an economic and 'attitude' lift from our hurlers. Sure, every county has a former Clare hurler in charge of a team or a club now. Two All-Irelands and we are sending our missionaries all over the place. Umpteen All-Irelands and no Kilkenny man – apart from Brian Cody – is at the helm. How crazy is that?

But Clare did lift with that tide. That’s what sport did for the county. Limerick is running on petrol fumes right now, and Munster rugby is keeping morale up all on its own. Can any of us forget that iconic scene in Cardiff, when the big screen cut to O’Connell Street and the crowd responded for their team? My other favourite was Donegal – they lifted in 1992. Go to any Donegal house in the world and you will find that All-Ireland video from 1992 under the telly. And it will probably be out of its case too.

Winning does that. And when you don’t win that often – or ever – when the day comes, it means all the more. Last March, we won the Grand Slam, and the country forgot its troubles for a day or two. Smiles at work and at the marts on Monday morning, and conversations that began with “Where did you watch the match?”

That’s what we are in this for. Those days, those nights. Winning the National League should mean something. It should be marked. No matter who wins, be it Kerry in the football or Kilkenny in the hurling. It’s a medal and it’s your county.

Saturday is Ireland’s last competitive rugby match in Croke Park, and that’s how the day is being sold. Your last chance to see a green jersey with an oval ball in his hand on the hallowed sod. If you haven’t been already, this is your last chance.

Screw that. We have a Triple Crown to win. With a young, exciting backline, sprinkled with some of the finest men ever to grace the jersey. We are going to play with style. We are going to play with passion. We are going to win another Triple Crown at home.

Please stop taking this for granted.

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...