Ministers said a better academies structure can produced more players like Mason Melia. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
There are two ways of looking at the landmark announcement of Government funding for League of Ireland academies, and those viewpoints were represented in conversations reacting to the Budget’s initial €3m commitment for 2026.
On the one hand, there’s the understandable opinion that €3m is hardly a game-changing figure and the creation of a couple of new positions per club is not exactly going to drive a revolution. Issues with facilities and infrastructure will remain.