Howlin will join presidency race

The contest for the GAA Presidency will be a three-cornered affair between former provincial chairmen, Sean Walsh (Kerry), Aogán Ó Feargáil (Cavan) and Sheamus Howlin (Wexford).

Ó Feargháil’s nomination was unanimously approved at the last meeting of the Cavan County Board and subsequently received the backing of the Ulster Council management committee (which he sits on, as ex-chairman).

Sean Walsh was formally ratified as a candidate by the Kerry County Board at its meeting on Monday night. And, while former Leinster chairman Seamus Howlin confirmed yesterday he is definitely standing for election, he made it clear from the outset the nomination process would be delayed until after the All-Irelands.

The election will be interesting from a number of perspectives. Ó Feargháil will be the first Ulster candidate to stand since Sean McCague was elected in 1999. The previous Ulster chairman, Tom Daly from Donegal was nominated for the 2011 election — along with Howlin and former Tipperary Chairman Con Hogan — but didn’t stand. Hogan withdrew early in the year and Howlin had indicated to Liam O’Neill he would not stand against him before he learned that Daly had also withdrawn.

lOver the past three decades only three presidents were successful in their first contest — the late Paddy Buggy in 1981, Sean Kelly in 2002 and Nickey Brennan in 2005.

O’Neill had been runner-up to Christy Cooney in 2009 and thus became the ninth president to be elected at the second attempt.