John Fallon: Can Tony Keohane clean up FAI's latest mess?

Among the five boards FAI chairman Tony Keohane spearheads is the topical Deposit Return Scheme. The path for football to repair its battered reputation, though, strays beyond merely recycling.

In the week rugby’s popularity continued to soar and a sense of freshness accompanied the elevation of Jarlath Burns to GAA president, football finds itself in junk status.

Someone must carry the can for this road to sustainability to be travelled.

Jonathan Hill’s performance at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last Thursday descended a saga that’s been running since late October to new depths and harked back to the darkness of his predecessor John Delaney.

Discard the red herrings.

Hill would’ve gladly talked around the “junior employee” throughout his appearance before the powerful Dáil committee if he could.

That the person was first to receive special treatment, or even call for it, regarding payment of unused holidays, is irrelevant in the broader context.

Hill is the leader of the FAI, an organisation which only survived by the taxpayer’s bailout in early 2020.

He’d have been aware when applying for the post that year what scrutiny came with the territory of being chief executive.

Indeed, a ruling by High Court judge Anthony Barr against Delaney’s infamous injunction request on St Patrick’s weekend of 2019 affirmed the ground rules.

"I am satisfied that the finances of the FAI and any payment and repayment to its chief executive are matters of significant public interest," he concluded when allowing the Sunday Times publish details of a secretive €100,000 bridging loan.

Here we are again five years later dealing with a clandestine transaction, albeit of a lower sum.

Still, that it’s of €11,500 of cash for untaken