Whole county behind O Fearghail

Paul Fitzpatrick


Drumgoon clubman Aogán O Fearghail stands on the precipice of creating history tonight when he hopes to become the first Cavanman to be elected to the role of President of the GAA.

O Fearghail is the third Cavanman, after Polo Grounds hero TP O’Reilly and legendary footballer Jim McDonnell, to contest the position and hopes are high in the county that he will emerge victorious at Congress in Croke Park.

As in all elections under the PR system, much will come down to the transfers – it is possible that Kerry's Sean Walsh could be ahead after the first count but that, if Wexford's Sheamus Howlin were to be eliminated, O Fearghail would still pick up enough votes to win the election.

However, the Dernakesh NS Principal admitted on Tuesday that it is very hard to make a prediction at this juncture.

“I really don’t know. I’m not being cagey in saying that,” O Fearghail told The Anglo-Celt.

“I don’t know, I’ve got a good positive reaction. To win, you have to get strong support in all provinces and overseas, in Britain and America and so on.

“I’m quite confident that I have very strong support in my own province. It’s assessing how strong you are in the other provinces and that is difficult to really read. We won’t really know that until the votes are counted.

“There’s a Munster man standing and a Leinster man and those counties are going to be very guarded in what they say. If they support their own man, that’s fine, but whatever one of us wins, we’re going to have to take some support from their province. And whether it’s me that leaks votes in Ulster, or Sheamus who loses some Leinster counties or Sean in Munster, that’s going to be the telling difference. I couldn’t answer what’s going to happen there, GAA people play their hand very carefully.”

O Fearghail (55) is more anxious than nervous, he said, and has been blown away by the support he has received in his home county.

“I was asked that by my own children and my answer was that I’m not nervous but anxious, there’s a difference. I would feel anxious about the whole thing at this stage. I’ve had a lot of good wishes and a huge amount of goodwill in Cavan – I can see how much it would mean to people in Cavan now.

“I get a bit anxious for all of them and I hope it goes well more for the people of the county than myself.”

The campaign has been a gruelling one, taking the three candidates around the country and overseas. Asked about the courage it takes to stand for such a high profile position, O Fearghail said: “People used to say that to me and I didn’t know what that meant until I’d done it. People said that you have to have a strong neck and back bone to put yourself forward for a very public election. I didn’t really understand that until I went into it but it’s very public and you’re very exposed.

“You go in basically, it’s like a job interview. I have met all the county boards and you go in to a magament committee of 12 or 15 people who are looking at you, listening to you, assessing you and making judgements on you. When you do it in 32 counties and in units around the world, it’s intense. You attend a lot of functions and speak publicly in debating forums.

“The GAA talks to itself on the presidential election, it’s not like politics in the newspapers or on television. It’s communication within the association’s hierarchy.

“There wouldn’t be tricks, definitely not, the GAA will always get the right man. They’re like the Canadian Mounted Police. In their history, they’ve always chosen the right president at the right time. If it’s not me, I’ll dust myself and still be happy that the GAA have done the right thing, because they always do.

“It’s based on where they assess your vision and have you got the dynamo and the energy to do what is required.

“The GAA people are so good. I met no nasty people, you’ll meet contrary or difficult people but you won’t meet bad people in the GAA, it’s the nature of the association.”