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Liam O'Neill's first official function as GAA president yesterday was to open the new dressing-rooms in his home club, Trumera.
But at 9.0 this morning he was back in the classroom of the local school where he is principal to begin the final term and put the concept of whether the modern president can continue to fit a working life around his association duties to its strictest test.
The practice of the GAA seconding a president has been prevalent for more than a decade now and has invariably been a point of heated discussion during some of the more contentious issues to arise -- from state grants to GAA players to the payments-to-managers document.
O'Neill will be a school principal first and a GAA president second during working hours until the school year ends at the end of June.
It was his intention that such an arrangement would remain in place for his three-year term, but the diary in the weeks after his unopposed appointment 12 months ago essentially dictated that he couldn't be both and he now plans to take a leave of absence from his teaching duties.
After the conclusion of Congress on Saturday evening, the new president told the story of what changed his mind.
"In one weekend in June last year,I left my school and went off to another school to give prizes. I came home, got washed and changed and went off to Ballyragget, which would be 25 miles away from my house. I was home at 12.30am and was up again at 3.30am to get a 6.30am flight to open up a pitch in Coventry.
"I couldn't get a flight back until 10.30pm. I was up the next morning for a club match, had to go to an inter-county match that afternoon and that night, I ended up in Croghan, 50 miles away, turning on lights at 10.30 at night.
"I was home at 12.30am and straight to school the next morning. Somebody said to me: 'I heard you were in Birmingham, you must have had a great time!'
"That was that weekend. I was also out the previous Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
"I thought at one stage I could do it. But, even if you were superman and you could do it, nobody would believe that you could teach the next day anyway.
"The children are the most important. I don't say that in any sanctimonious way. Any of you who have children know that.
"If you're dressing up children and sending them to school, you want the man who's there to be in good form and you don't want his mind on the latest GAA controversy, wherever that might be.
"What we'll get between now and the summer will be an interesting exercise for those who say the president shouldn't be full-time. We'll have 10 weeks together to find out whether it's possible or not."
On September 1, O'Neill will start his leave of absence and devote all his time to the issues that will be central to his term -- the area of games, their discipline and the way the fixtures are rolled out, the financial governance of units, the development of officers, the challenge of sustaining youth involvement and urbanisation.
In his first press briefing, the new president acknowledged that Gaelic football, in its current guise, had become "boring," an observation that will give some hope to the legions falling out of love with the game.
"Just when you think it is in bother you get a great game of football, a great All- Ireland final. That happens time and time again," he said.
"However, the defensiveness of the game at the moment and the over-use of the handpass is slowing it down and it's boring.
"It's not what our supporters want, we like physical contact and we like the game moving forward."
A playing rules committee will continue to operate under O'Neill's presidency, but may involve different people with different ideas.
Setting a template for managers was another issue he touched upon.
"At some stage we are going to have to set a standard for what we call the person in charge of a team, whether it is the term manager or what.
"With the International Rules we have a tour manager and then you have people who coach the team. I wonder should we change the model around a bit or look at it.
course
"Should the GAA devise a course for managers and explain to people on the course that you don't get to be a club or county manager without having done the appropriate course?
"It wouldn't be about control, but it might be able to effect change."
O'Neill, who was an architect of the disciplinary rules changes that narrowly failed to succeed at Congress three years ago, believes the principles of what they proposed have worked anyway, with less round-the-neck pulling prevalent in games.
The incoming president envisages a new work group being set up to modify the previous proposals.
"I think in any disciplinary system from now, we will be looking at making sure that the person who is wrong pays," he said.
"I hope we can get away from this thing of the easy fine rather than identifying who causes bother and suspending him."
O'Neill broke with tradition by opting not to name his key committee chairmen until the next Central Council meeting on Saturday, April 28.
In his parting address, outgoing president Christy Cooney told delegates it was "time to deliver" on the issue of payments to managers.
