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Former Armagh football captain Jarlath Burns says he is “very humbled” after being elected as president of the GAA.
Silverbridge man Burns was voted in on the first count at GAA congress on Friday night as he defeated Pat Teehan and Niall Erskine.
It is the second time Burns has run for the presidency after missing out to Larry McCarthy in February 2020.
“I know it is a great moment for myself, my family and my club, Silverbridge,” he told BBC Sport.
He added: “That is the place that reared me into becoming the man that I am. This is Silverbridge’s night tonight.
“It’s just an incredible moment. We had two hours to wait between the count and the announcement.
“There was all sorts of speculation, but you almost enter a surreal world in those two hours.
“It’s certainly not something I would want to go through again but when you see how emphatic the victory was then you realise it was worth waiting for.”
With 277 votes on offer, Burns easily passed the benchmark of 139 and was voted in on the first count with 158 votes.
Offaly’s Teehan was a distant second with 70 votes while Erskine, who was bidding to become the first GAA president from Donegal, was third with 49 votes.
Teehan was aiming to become only the second Offaly person to be elected to the GAA’s highest office after John Dowling held the position from 1988-91.
McCarthy will hold the presidency until 2024 before the position passes over to Burns at next year’s congress.
Cork-born New York delegate McCarthy took over from John Horan in 2021 and will see out his three-year tenure.
Burns is best known for captaining Armagh to an Ulster Football title in 1999.
However, he has served in numerous high-profile GAA administrative roles, including as Armagh’s delegate to the Ulster Council and as a member of the Armagh and Ulster GAA Management Committees.
Burns also served as chairman of both the standing committee on the playing rules and the 125th anniversary committee, and he is currently principal of St Paul’s High School Bessbrook near Newry.
After narrowly missing out in 2020, Burns added it has “worked out perfectly” and he has benefitted from the additional three years out of office.
“We got an overseas president. That was great and I was so proud that Larry McCarthy had won it the last time. We are a global organisation,” Burns recalled.
“I am better enabled to do it now and I have three years more wisdom. I would say this, I went around the counties with a very clear agenda and a very clear set of things that I wanted to do.
“I am going to get to them. I have a very, very busy plan and I’m going to get to it.
“It’s not so much an issue but integration with the other two codes. I would love and be very proud to be the person to deliver that for the GAA, and to deliver it in a way that is advantageous to gaelic games and make it a wonderful, united and connected organisation.”
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