OBITUARY: Joe McDonagh, All-Ireland winner and former GAA president

"Saluting the boy from the gable wall" - Sean Kelly looks at the life of Joe McDonagh, former GAA president and All-Ireland winner

MAY is a beautiful month, with grass growing, flowers blooming, and everything bursting into life. Sadly, last month will always be remembered in the GAA as the month we lost two of the most popular presidents in the history of the association: Jack Boothman (1994-1997), and his immediate successor, Joe McDonagh (1997-2000). The latter died, aged 63, on May 20.

It is ironic that they died a short time apart, because when Jack Boothman was elected uachtarán, in 1993, Joe’s performance as runner-up was so strong that Jim O’Sullivan, of the Irish Examiner, stated that we “elected two presidents on the one day.”