Three in battle for top GAA job

THE die is almost cast in the succession stakes for the GAA director-general’s position following the latest round of interviews yesterday.

Ex-GAA president Liam O’Neill, current financial director Tom Ryan and former Tipperary hurling manager Liam Sheedy were due to be interviewed, having been shortlisted after the first round of interviews.

Former president Aogán Ó Fearghail had driven the recruitment work up to last Saturday week, when the main responsibility for finding a replacement for Páraic Duffy moved on to his successor John Horan.

Horan said that the GAA hoped to be in a position to announce the identity of the new director-general around the weekend of March 23/24.

The race for the job, which got off to a controversial start when the original eligibility criteria included an honours business degree, has been a major source of interest in the GAA for the past few months.

Sheedy and Ryan were regarded as leading contenders from the start, before O’Neill’s name emerged at a later stage.

The Laois man served as president of the Association from 2012 to 2015.

If successful, he would become just the second man to have held both the presidency and the directorgeneral’s job.

Limerick man Frank B Dineen was president in 1895-’98 before taking over as director-general, where he served for three years (18981901).