At the end of a day of frenetic activity between the Government and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), only one thing seemed clear last night: very little, if any, of this row has been resolved. Indeed, it seems that both sides are content - if that is not an inappropriate word under the circumstances - merely to buy time.
What is clear, however, is that the FAI had no expectation of the public reaction that greeted its decision to sell exclusive live TV broadcasting rights to a foreign satellite service, Sky television, which is available only in some 250,000 homes. The scale of the reaction (some people have spoken of little else in a week that saw the publication of one of the most eagerly awaited reports into off-shore banking) has provoked the Government. But the question is, what can it do? Initially, the official reaction was a shrug of the shoulders response, laced with "anyway, it's too late". It was only when this newspaper's Political Reporter, Mark Hennessy, disclosed that under European Union law, the Government could indeed do something, that it became apparent all was not lost.
But achieving the result the Government says it wants, may prove harder than at first sight. It is expected that at next week's Cabinet meeting, the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern, will put forward a list of sporting events that could, if the Government chose, be listed - ie protected from predatory purchasing by the likes of Sky and Mr Rupert Murdoch. These events would have to be made available by broadcasters to the widest possible audience. They would have to be broadcast by terrestrial stations such as RTÉ or TV3, thus ruling out possible similar deals by other sporting organisations.
In this scenario, it could be that the Government would then face legal action from the GAA or the IRFU, either of which could argue that by effectively robbing them of the chance of obtaining the sort of revenue enjoyed by the FAI, they were being discriminated against. If the Government moves against the FAI, both the Association and Sky may sue. Mr Murdoch may well be nervous of any forced renegotiation of his deal with the FAI because - one eye on what he would like to do elsewhere in the EU - of the precedent that would be set. Both the Government and the FAI made what were essentially holding statements last night. The FAI has been told, effectively, to sort it out. Both sides hope something will turn up but neither seems to know quite what. Football is a game of two halves. The FAI has gone to the dressing room. We may yet see a penalty shoot-out on this one.