McCague wins easily in the end

In retrospect it was all obvious. The sheer volume of delegates who reckoned that Sean McCague would win Saturday's election for the GAA presidency turned out to be more indicative of the result than the equally insistent consensus that the vote would go to a second count.

McCague, a sharply turned out 53-year-old primary school headmaster, had been extremely confident all weekend, and as it turned out, with good reason. His campaign is the latest instalment in the success story of presidential runners-up at subsequent elections.

Following the charismatic McDonagh is a hard task for any uachtaran tofa, but McCague has the right credentials. Most particularly, he has the confidence and independent-mindedness not to be in the least concerned by comparisons with the incumbent.

He acknowledged that he wasn't a bilingual orator, but emphasised that he would be his own man. His GAA career is the widest-ranging of any president in recent times.

Although he was never more than a moderate talent on the football pitch and had to give up playing in his early 20s because of a spinal operation, he was a very successful manager, bringing three Ulster titles and one league to Monaghan.

Outside of the games, he has acquired a reputation as a formidable administrator, most notably when chairing Peter Quinn's GAC. That disciplinarian tenure of office has been something of a paradox in his career.

Six years ago, he said that chairing the GAC would rule him out of ever being elected president, and at least one county would vote for David Mellor to lead the GAA rather than McCague. But in these times of concern about excessive indiscipline, his track record could be seen in a more positive light.

On Saturday, he said that he believed he had earned a reputation for fairness in the office and that that had benefited him in the end. His forthright style probably has gained him the reputation of being rigorous and to-the-point after a long career as Monaghan's delegate on Central Council.

McCague is sometimes a victim of his stereotype. He reflects his Ulster environment in his views on Rule 21 and also in his impatience with the issue of playing soccer on GAA grounds. Combined with his straight talking, the caricature is of a dour northerner.

In fact he can be convivial and has a dry sense of humour. His conservatism on the above issues is counterpointed by a level of social concern reflected in his acceptance speech when he addressed the problems with which both society and the GAA have to cope:

"The gap between the haves and the have-nots, the price of housing, traffic congestion, depression among young males and its terrible consequences are all aspects of the society in which the association must function."

At a time when there is some grass-root concern that the GAA hierarchy is becoming excessively dazzled by the huge project of developing Croke Park and the need to entice corporate support, McCague's concerns will have struck a timely note.

He received 173 votes, Albert Fallon 85 and Noel Walsh 66. As soon as it was announced that the result had been decided on the first count, there was surprise in the hall. The scale of McCague's victory was a shattering reverse for Longford's Albert Fallon who had hoped to mount a sufficiently stern challenge to ease himself into pole position for the next election in 2002.

Instead he was beaten more than two-to-one and only cleared Noel Walsh from Clare by 21 votes. He could take some heart from McCague's own experience in London three years ago when he lost comprehensively to Joe McDonagh and was a little disillusioned at the gap between what he had been promised and what he received.

Fallon was taking on an equally forlorn task in opposing McCague but he would have hoped to have done better. His immediate response was a somewhat protracted speech which sounded uncomfortably like a victory speech crossdressed for the occasion.

Walsh probably judged the mood better by pointing out tartly that he wouldn't be long because it was a day for the new president-elect and not the defeated candidates. He raised loud laughter by his brief remarks.

"I'd like to thank those who voted for me - there weren't many but thanks. I'd like to thank those who voted against me because, well, that's democracy and I'd like to thank all those who promised to vote for me but didn't quite get around to it."

On the playing front, Tipperary sealed their National Hurling League semi-final spot by defeating Waterford in Thurles. Holders Cork's victory over Wexford was accordingly irrelevant. Tipp will face Clare in the semi-finals next Sunday week and Galway - who finished their campaign as the only 100 per cent team in the first division - will take on Kilkenny. The venue will in all likelihood be Thurles.

Semi-Finals

Tipperary v Clare

Sunday May 2nd, Thurles (to be confirmed)

Galway v Kilkenny

Sunday May 2nd, Thurles (to be confirmed)