As ever, as soon as one election is over, people are casting an eye on the field for four years hence. And from nowhere in September, Tim O’Leary is now in the box seat as deputy president.

He came in off the rails to beat JJ Kavanagh, drawing on the hunger in Munster and among dairy farmers for a representative from their ranks at the upper levels of IFA.

Now he has four years to prove himself the logical successor to Eddie Downey. However, joining Tim at the top table are a number of credible candidates.

Tilt

The new South Leinster chairman is James Murphy, and he will be positioning himself for a tilt at the top job in four years time. James is just about to complete a highly impressive stint as sheep committee chairman. Incidentally, his predecessor, Henry Burns, now back on the national stage as livestock chair, must be considered as a future IFA president.

A question for those two will be how soon Kilkenny and Laois will want to go back on the campaign trail.

Kerry’s James McCarthy accepted the Munster chairman’s position, the only regional contest on Tuesday, with typically self-effacing wit. “I’m breaking a habit of my 15 years in IFA by smiling,” he said. McCarthy is not just witty, he’s also bright and considered.

Tom Turley will bring fire and passion in his role as Connacht chairman. Tom is about to switch over to dairy farming but will surely, as always, be a strong advocate for those farmers disadvantaged by scale or land quality.

Tom has the ambition and the ability to become national president, but he has to unite Galway behind him to do so. That will prove difficult; the county split 72-68 in Eddie Downey’s favour following typically ferocious canvassing by both the Donnelly and the Turley/Silke camps.

Completing the top table is Bert Stewart. While he has a lower profile than the other executive officers, he is well thought of at national executive.

If Eddie Downey follows through on his pledge to delegate appropriate responsibilities to his senior officers, we will get to know them all better in the coming months and years.

One place left

There remains one position to be filled. The treasurer and national retuning officer positions will be re-united at the AGM.

Jer Bergin, even in the act of conceding the election to Eddie Downey, threw his hat in the ring. “There’s a great team in place and I might yet be a part of it,” he said.

Michael Keane’s excellent stewardship of the elections, having replaced JJ Kavanagh who stepped down to contest the deputy presidency, makes him a strong contender. However, there is a tradition of defeated candidates taking the treasury; for both Tom Parlon and Padraig Walshe it ultimately proved a route to the presidency.

Speaking of route back, it was noteworthy that in his acceptance speech Eddie Downey made reference to Sean O’Leary, whom he defeated four years ago in the deputy presidential election. Sean was last Thursday elected to the chair of the dairy committee. With Teddy Cashman chairing the liquid milk committee – the Cork boys are most definitely back.

Should Tim O’Leary not deliver on the potential of his election, we can expect a Cork challenge for the presidency in 2017.

Only 208 weeks to go!