Tommy Martin: A €3m milestone that finally puts a value on Irish football opportunity

We are literally right beside the nation that spends the most on buying footballers. It would be like living next to the world’s biggest cider market and never thinking to plant a few apple trees.

OPPORTUNITY: Manager Jim Crawford and Mason Melia during a Republic of Ireland U21's training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown. Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile.

A mixed week for the toy department.

You had the implosion of the Jim Gavin presidential campaign, which had been drifting listlessly long before it was sunk by a torpedo from a disgruntled former tenant.