West’s IFA contender will launch campaign in Athenry on Friday night

THE campaign to elect the first IFA President from West of the Shannon since John Donnelly secured the prestigious post in 1994 gets underway officially on Friday night when the West’s contender, Joe Healy from Athenry, rallies his campaign team and supporters at a meeting in the Raheen Woods Hotel.
Healy is the last of the contenders into the race and carries the tag of the outsider as he is the only one of the three who secured the necessary nominations not to be a member of the IFA Executive Council.
Voting will take place in April but before then the three contenders are required to engage in head-to-head debates before 29 county IFA committees (Cork has three while Tipperary has two, every other county has one) during which they will set out their aims and objectives.