Dara Ó Cinnéide takes over as An Ghaeltacht chairman

Ó Cinnéide won two senior county titles with the club in 2001 and ‘03, lining out in the 2004 All-Ireland senior club final against Caltra

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh congratulates Dara Ó Cinnéide on An Ghaeltacht's success in the 2017 Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta.

Kerry’s 2004 All-Ireland winning captain Dara Ó Cinnéide has taken over as chairman of his club An Ghaeltacht.

The 45-year-old replaces Seán Ó Catháin who served his five years in the position. Two-time All-Ireland winner Ó Cinnéide was a selector with An Ghaeltacht when they regained senior status in 2017 before they were relegated the following year.

Having started playing junior B with An Ghaeltacht in the early 1990s, he won two senior county titles with the club in 2001 and ‘03, lining out in the 2004 All-Ireland senior club final against Caltra.

Ó Cinnéide’s views on the community’s connection with the club are well known. Speaking this month two years ago, he laid out why he is totally against any form of professionalism in Gaelic Games.

“I'm fundamentally opposed to payments to managers. I'm not stupid enough, I'm not romantic enough to think that it's not happening left, right and centre in this county and every other county; that there is money changing hands. To me, that's corrosive to any club.

"If you give a person, €80, €90, €100, €110, €120 per session… a club is about more than your senior team; it's about more than their senior team winning games. It's about how their community interacts with their club.”