GAVIN FOUND A WHOLE DIFFERENT BALL GAME

LAST night Jim Gavin dramatcially withdrew from the presidential election campaign.

- By GARRY DOYLE

The news came after a bruising week for the former Dublin manager.

In a three-horse race Gavin was in grave danger of finishing fourth.

That said, those rival house hunters seeking to take up residency in the Aras were making sure it remained a competitive contest.

There's Heather Humphreys. Nice woman. Happily married. Sadly she suffered a memory loss when quizzed a few weeks ago about whether her husband was ever in the Orange Order.

“Not that I am aware of,” the Fine Gael candidate initially replied.

You'd have thought the sash around his neck might have been a clue.

Then there's Catherine Connolly. Fine orator. Such a pity some of the words coming out of her mouth managed to insult Germany, Ireland's biggest ally during the Brexit crisis.

And then we had GAA hero Gavin. A stickler for the rules when running the Dubs, he managed to break them twice last week, first when his campaign team shot drone footage without permission, then when he sought the endorsement of our neutral Defence Forces in his social media accounts.