BREAKING: Tipperary GAA nominates well-known figure to run for GAA presidency

Tipperary GAA has confirmed that it will nominate Ger Ryan of the Templederry Kenyons club as a candidate for Uachtarán of the GAA at the 2026 Annual Congress.

The unanimous decision was made at the board's November County Committee meeting. Ryan, who served as Chairperson of Munster GAA from 2022 to 2025, will attempt to become the first Tipperary man to hold the office in more than fifty years. The last was the late Séamus Ó Riain, who served as President from 1967 to 1970.

Ryan has built an extensive administrative career within the Association. His roles at provincial level include Vice Chairperson of Munster GAA from 2019 to 2022, Chairperson of the Munster Coaching and Games Committee during the same period, and PRO for Munster GAA from 2014 to 2017. Before that he acted as PRO for Tipperary GAA from 2009 to 2013 and later served as Tipperary’s delegate to the Munster Council.

At national level he has chaired several committees, including the Medical Scientific and Welfare Committee from 2012 to 2018 and the Communications Committee from 2018 to 2021. He currently leads the Central Referees Appointments Committee.

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Ryan has also been closely involved in GAA activity within Tipperary for more than three decades. His contributions include ten years as Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer of the Tipperary Supporters Club fundraising body.

He served as liaison and logistics officer for the Tipperary senior hurling team from 1999 to 2011. Within his own club, Templederry Kenyons, he was Chairperson from 1991 to 1994 and continues to serve as a committee member.

Tipperary County Board Chairperson Jimmy Minogue said Ryan’s record reflects a combination of leadership, consensus building and deep understanding of the Association.

“Ger Ryan has been a brilliant servant of the Association right through the ranks, from club to county, at provincial and national level. He has brought huge insight, professionalism and leadership at all levels, and importantly he has done this while bringing people with him,” Minogue said.

He added that such qualities will be essential as the GAA prepares for a period of significant change and that delegates voting for Ryan in February will be placing the Association in safe and proven hands.

Ryan said he was honoured by the nomination and described the prospect of running for President as a privilege after more than thirty years working in GAA administration.

He said the Association remains an unrivalled sporting and cultural organisation rooted in community identity, both in Ireland and abroad. He highlighted the importance of preserving the amateur status of the games and identified integration with the Camogie Association and the LGFA, as well as demographic pressures on clubs, as key issues for the coming years.

“I am deeply honoured by the opportunity afforded to me by my home county. I look forward to meeting and listening to people in the coming months as we work to grow and enhance the GAA’s impact for players, volunteers, supporters and communities in Ireland and around the world,” he said.

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