Donegal treasurer role to be decided by draw out of a hat

THE new treasurer of the Donegal County Board will be selected tomorrow in an unique manner – by drawing a name out of a hat.

Gaoth Dobhair’s Alan Boyd and Brendan Kelly of St Mary’s, Convoy are in the mix to succeed Cieran Kelly, who stepped down last month.

A draw will take place at the Donegal GAA office in Ballybofey tomorrow.

And just to add to the intrigue, the actual name drawn out will be the defeated candidate and that which remains will be elected as county treasurer.

On Monday night at a meeting of the Donegal County Committee, the two were deadlocked at 33 votes apiece.

That was in a second ballot after an initial vote had to be scrapped when there more votes were cast than there were eligible votes.

When the tie emerged, officials were unsure as to whether or not the county chairman Mick McGrath could use a casting vote to decide the issue.

Donegal sought clarity from the office of GAA ard-stiúrthóir Tom Ryan and have been instructed to conduct a draw.

A similar method was used to select London GAA’s Central Council delegate in December.

Donegal native Seamus Carr, who hails from Carrick, lodged an appeal to Croke Park after he was defeated via the chairman’s casting vote. In the subsequent draw, Carr – the outgoing Central Council delegate – was elected.