St Eunan's Fergus McGee in the race for the county chair

Current Donegal GAA Ulster Council delegate Fergus McGee will be seeking the position of chairman of the county board at next month’s County Convention.

The St Eunan’s clubman and well known figure in cultural activities in the county confirmed he is letting his name go forward to succeed outgoing chairman Mick McGrath.

He has experience on various Irish language and cultural committees in Donegal Ulster and Croke Park over many years.
Administration is his forte and he has been chairperson and secretary of many committees as well as being Oifigeach na Gaeilge in Donegal in more recent times.

However, he is best known in GAA circles as the announcer at games all over the county and his work in Scór over many years.

“I had not thought much about going for the chair, but a number of clubs approached me and asked me if I would consider it,” he said. “It started off with one person and then three or four others came to tell me that the chair was vacant and would I consider it.

“At the start it was far from my mind, but as I have been involved on the Executive for quite some time, I decided to go forward. What I can say now is that I have been nominated and I will be going forward for the post.
“If I get it, I will consider it a tremendous honour and it would be something I would be very grateful for and very proud of as well.

“Donegal is always in my heart and when you leave the county it is even more dear to you as I was attached to Moorefield GAA club in Kildare when I lived there from 1987 to 1997 when I came back to Letterkenny. I will give it my best shot.

“I would wait to see if I would get the position first and I obviously have some thoughts of my own having been on the Executive for the past seven years. There are a lot of good people on the Executive and those who also attend the County Committee who are giving so much of their time to promoting the GAA within the county”.

Like new football boss Paddy Carr, McGee has a fierce passion for his county. He was associated with a group In the Midlands called Muintir Thír Conill Lár na hÉireann while he lived in Kildare which was chaired by Fionn Gallagher.
Cormac MacGill was on that committee also and McGee adds that he would have met “quite a lot of inspirational people” along the way and I worked very closely with the late Seamus De Faoite on culture and language matters.

“I was always proud of the GAA and very much a Donegal man and I think there is a lot of ability in our county team”.

When it is suggested to him that the past few years have been frustrating for the county senior team, he replied: “I go back to that hot day in Enniskillen in 2021 when a few things did not go well for us against Tyrone who went on to win the All-Ireland title and I thought Declan Bonner did a good job for the county.

“I was very impressed with our new manager Paddy Carr’s sheer enthusiasm for the job, and he has great passion for Donegal and It is very important that we have a Donegal man in the job”.