Football’s back! Which, incidentally, is something you only say if you enjoy deliberately trolling League of Ireland fans.

A couple of months after Martin O’Neill took a sabbatical from football management to help look after his then ill wife Geraldine, this writer interviewed someone who had played minor inter-county Gaelic football with one of O’Neill’s great foot soldiers at Parkhead, Neil Lennon.

Irish international Kevin Doyle was on hand to launch to a special fund to aid the grassroots development of Irish football today.

Mobile phone operator 3 and the FAI have announced a sponsorship agreement, worth €7.5m over four years, which sees 3 become the primary sponsor of the Irish national football team and all international squads.