John Horan became the first native Dubliner to be elected Uachtarán Cumann Luthchleas Gael in almost 100 years when he took office in February of 2018.

The former secondary school principal was the first Dub since Daniel McCarthy (1921-1924) to be GAA President and secured the nomination after a significant victory in the 2017 Uachtarán Tofa election to become the Association’s 39^th Uachtarán.

In a busy term he oversaw the implementation of new competition formats in football and hurling and built a reputation as a man who excels at getting the best out of people. He initiated the addition of Ladies Gaelic Football and the Camogie Association chief executives onto the GAA’s Management Committee and paved the way for the first ever official GAA participation in the Dublin PRIDE Parade.

The COVID-19 crisis was an unprecedented challenge in terms of leadership, managing change and steering a sporting Association of 700,000 people through a global pandemic where the playing of sport was at one point prohibited and later severely restricted.