Duffy to be named director general

Paraic Duffy, who is expected to be named GAA director general in succession to Liam Mulvihill tonight.

Separate sources have indicated that Croke Park's current player welfare manager has emerged from a rigorous selection process as the successor to Liam Mulvihill, who steps down next month after over 28 years in charge of the GAA.

Widely respected for his courtesy, attention to detail and organisational ability, Duffy has also launched important strategic documents, most recently the discussion paper on re-balancing the club-county relationship, which goes before January's special congress.

From Monaghan, Duffy had held a variety of high-profile positions within the organisation before joining the full-time staff at headquarters. He had extensive involvement in his own county, serving as a selector in his friend Seán McCague's management team in the 1980s, a time of great success for Monaghan, which yielded two Ulster titles and a National Football League title in 1985. He was also chair of the county board for five years.

McCague was elected GAA president in 1999 and appointed Duffy as chair of the Games Administration Committee on taking office a year later. In that role Duffy came to national prominence, as his GAC adopted a firm and consistent line in respect of foul play and also streamlined communication procedures.

His success in that role made Duffy a sought-after committee chair and he filled a number of trouble-shooting roles within the organisation, including piloting through 2000's special congress of the All-Ireland football qualifier series, which was extended to hurling a year later and which remains the championship format.

Duffy joined the Croke Park staff at the start of this year having stepped down as principal of St Macaratan's College after more than 10 years in the role with what is one of the country's best-known schools.

His position of player welfare manager was an initiative of GAA president Nickey Brennan, who announced that he would establish the role when taking office in April 2006.

There was some surprise that Duffy expressed interest in the new post but others saw it as an opportunity for him to get to know the day-to-day functioning of Croke Park, as he had been by then frequently associated with either a run for the GAA presidency or the director general's position once Mulvihill retired.

He has been at the coalface of relations between the GAA and the GPA and has done a lot to stabilise that relationship. Currently involved in attempts to negotiate a way around the impasse over the proposed Government grants to players he now has an additional motivation to see the matter resolved, as he won't want it following him from his old desk to his new office.

In his mid-50s, he may not serve more than the one term, if ratified, but as he said in relation to chairing the Monaghan County Board: "What you can't achieve in one term of office, you're not going to achieve."