Jim Gavin takes a leaf out of Micheál Martin's book at the Ploughing

Presidential candidate Jim Gavin with Dara Calleary, minister for rural and community development and the Gaeltacht, climbing an 8m tower at the National Ploughing Championships in  Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly. Picture: Kenneth O'Halloran

As Jim Gavin traipsed up the walkways of the National Ploughing Championships, a couple of Dublin GAA fans met him by a rock climbing wall.

They pulled aside the Fianna Fáil presidential nominee and former Dublin GAA manager for a quick chat.

John Tindley from Lusk, pulled out a bright blue shopping bag, which contained a copy of every All-Ireland football victory by the Dubs under the management of Gavin.

The inside of the case was covered in the signatures of Dublin GAA players who had played for the team led by the presidential hopeful.

Tindley described Gavin as the “best GAA manager ever”, while Gavin was handed a sharpie and permitted to sign directly on the DVD inside.

As he continued his way through the muddy tracks, he was regularly stopped, both by GAA fans and supporters alike.

Fianna Fáil apparatchiks followed closely behind, slapping stickers in support of the Fianna Fáil nominee on their jackets and jumpers.

Gavin seemed at ease with them, chatting away and asking where they were from and what their local GAA club was.

It’s a slightly different version of Gavin compared to what media have seen in doorsteps and interviews, where the former air corps commandant sticks rigidly to his talking points and can sometimes seem a bit uncomfortable in the cameras’ glare.

He appears to have taken some inspiration from Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s canvassing style, with his campaign team saying he can be hard to keep up with.

Perhaps the term Mini Micheál might be appropriate, as one attendee joked.

When it comes to meeting people and canvassing for support, the Ploughing is hard to beat, especially in an election year.

With almost 80,000 attendees each day, there are plenty of votes up for grabs.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the Ploughing, Fine Gael’s presidential nominee Heather Humphreys caught up with Gavin’s challenger — Billy Kelleher.

Despite losing out to the former GAA manager last Tuesday, Kelleher took home a respectable 29 votes from within the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.

Kelleher was passing by the Fine Gael stand, while Humphreys was stood outside taking pictures with punters.

The two had a brief hug, with the Cork MEP wishing the Fine Gael hopeful the best for the long campaign ahead.