The Dealer enjoys the odd flutter from time to time, usually on his annual trip to the Galway races in August. However, a different sort of race entirely has broken out this week with the resignation of Eddie Downey as president of the IFA.

A date is still to be fixed, although a presidential election for the IFA is now a certainty and a host of names have been mentioned as possible candidates. Sensing an opportunity, The Dealer decided to contact the good folks at PaddyPower to see if they were offering odds on who would get the top job.

Although they couldn’t do it immediately as their novelty trader was busy calculating the latest odds for I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!, they got back to us this morning and they’ve made Tim O’Leary the early favourite at 6/4, with treasurer Jer Bergin 14/1 and a few rank outsiders like Irish rugby legend John Hayes coming in at 500/1.

After the acting president O’Leary come Carlow chair Derek Deane (4/1), Connacht vice-president Tom Turley (5/1) and rural development chair Flor McCarthy (5/1). However, we cannot rule out the likes of James McCarthy (7/1), the Munster vice-president, or animal health chair Bert Stewart (10/1).

Now that The Dealer looks at the spread, he’s less sure. Maybe the best bet is to throw the house on the Tullow Tank Sean O’Brien at odds of 500/1 and hope he ploughs through the competition.

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