Seamus Hickey takes the reins at GPA

The new chairman of the Gaelic Players Association fields an obvious point early in the conversation.

Did an organisation so closely identified with some key personalities need a change at the top?

“The likes of Dónal Óg and Kieran McGeeney, Dessie Farrell, and Peter Canavan,” says Seamus Hickey, “The work they all did to get the GPA to where it is today — the point where it’s a recognised body in the GAA and where millions are being invested in the welfare of inter-county players — it’s incredible when you think about it, the fact that you had five or six intercounty players in a room saying, ‘We’ve to do something about this’.