ONLY A matter of hours before the League of Ireland season kicked off last night, the Football Association of Ireland announced it was significantly cutting the amount of prize money that will go to the clubs that finish in the leading positions in the each of the two divisions.

Despite the announcement last week that energy firm Airtricity has signed up as the new title sponsor of the league, the overall prize fund will be down around €130,000 or 15 per cent on the corresponding 2009 figure of €1,045,000.

Most of the clubs will actually be unaffected but the winners of this year’s title will pick up a cheque for some €80,000 less than Bohemians did in November with the top prize cut by more than a quarter, from €280,000 to €200,000. The figures for the second- and third-placed sides will also be down, by €30,000 and €7,000 respectively, to €100,000 and €75,000 while the leading two finishers in the first division will pick up €50,000 and €20,000 compared to €66,000 and €36,000 last year.