Mary Coughlan: Ex-Irish deputy prime minister set to become Donegal GAA chairperson
- Published
Mary Coughlan has served as secretary of the St Naul's club since losing her seat in the Irish Parliament in 2011
Former Irish deputy prime minister Mary Coughlan looks set to become Donegal GAA's first female chairperson.
Ex-chairman Sean Dunnion and Coughlan's St Naul's club-mate Cieran Kelly were also nominated for the post but have withdrawn their names.
That leaves Coughlan the only nominee for the role which will be filled at Donegal's convention on 13 December.
If Coughlan, 58, is elected, she will become the GAA's fourth female county chairperson.
Eileen Jennings led the GAA's European board from 2006 to 2009 with Tyrone woman Roisin Jordan becoming the first chairperson of a county board in Ireland when she served between 2014 and 2017 before Tracey Kennedy was elected to the Cork role in 2017.
Coughlan was a Fianna Fail TD for Donegal South-West for 24 years and held a number of ministerial roles before serving as deputy prime minister between 2008 and 2011 during Brian Cowen's term as Taoiseach.
Since leaving the Irish parliament, Coughlan has served as St Naul's club secretary.
Donegal need to elect a new chairman following Fergus McGee's decision to stand down after only one year in the post.
The county has had a turbulent 12 months which started with Karl Lacey's decision to quit his role as chief of Donegal's Academy before Paddy Carr resigned as county football boss after less than five months in charge.
Donegal footballers' relegation to Division Two, which was already virtually certain when Carr stood down, was soon confirmed.
Under new interim manager Aidan O'Rourke, Donegal regrouped from an Ulster Championship defeat by Down to reach the final 12 of the All-Ireland series where they were well beaten by Tyrone.
After O'Rourke stepped down, the return of 2012 All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness boosted Donegal morale and county officials will hope that Coughlan's arrival will generate further positive headlines.
Back in 1991, Noreen Doherty became the first female county board secretary when she was elected to the Donegal post.