Grants an unspoken joke in the Greatest Amateur Association in the World

The final essential part of the farce is to claim the cash is justified because it is being used to support players playing “at the highest level”, writes Paul Rouse.

Like all the best farces, last week’s press announcement of the Government’s cash payments to the GAA’s inter-county players was played out with exquisite seriousness.

Everyone kept a straight face. The usual pious words were thrown around by Sport Ireland, by the Gaelic Players’ Association and by the Junior Minister for Sport, Patrick O’Donovan.