Irish presidential candidate Jim Gavin reminds me of Queen Elizabeth, just with more All-Ireland medals

The former Queen lived by the principle to never complain and never explain – to accept the downside to a life on the throne, as she was there to serve her people. That sense of duty will appeal to Gavin’s character, too

Jim Gavin is standing for President. Until now the only thing he has ever stood for is the national anthem. By entering politics at such a late age, Gavin is one of two things, either the country’s smartest man or else its biggest ego.

Every single one of his opponents has a right to be angry as they have worked their way up through the political ranks, serving their time on county councils or in the Dail, seeking now to serve their country.

We know their policies because we have a record of them. But what is Gavin’s ideology? What view does he have on the war in Gaza? On our homeless crisis? Our national debt? No one knows. In fact does anyone really know Jim Gavin?

For 12 years now, he has been in the public eye, firstly by becoming the most successful Gaelic football manager in Dublin’s history, latterly by revolutionising the game’s rules.

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Throw in his job as senior officer in the Air Corps and he has proven to be a high flier in more ways than one.

That’s all well and good. However, becoming head of state surely requires a longer political apprenticeship than a few short weeks on a campaign trail.

Ireland, remember, fought to become a Republic. The Presidential office is the highest in the land. The job itself may not amount to much more than feigning interest in boring people but that’s not the point.

You should have to work your way up there, serve your time fixing the potholes on local roads, running a constituency before you should even contemplate running for office.

His opponents have. Billy Kelleher has worked on behalf of the public for decades; Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys first ran for election when Jim Gavin was running laps around Dublin’s training pitches.

Ms Humphreys has held ministerial positions in the Department of Enterprise, Social Protection and Rural Community Affairs. The most important thing Jim Gavin ever held was the Sam Maguire.

His status as a football manager is unquestionably high but his credibility as a politician is non-existent.

So how come he has such a great chance of winning?

For starters, he is squeaky clean and was allergic to controversy during his seven years as Dublin manager, when he would often waste time in his press conferences by rhyming off the team list of his upcoming opponents.

Many journalists found his words to be mind numbingly dull; others viewed his praise for opponents to be respectful and polite.

He may not know what he has let himself in now, though, because political journalists are considerably more critical than sports reporters, and whereas the land of the GAA is a place where managers try to outdo one another with praise, in politics, no one is afraid to berate or belittle.

The inexperience card will be thrown at Gavin, that’s for sure.

And correctly so because he has no public record to speak of.

But the point he may justifiably make is that the office of President is, by and large, a place where you need one prime skill: to be able to shake people’s hands while smiling.

He’d be good at that.

He’ll be good under pressure, too.

“I remember when Jim Gavin first came into management and he spoke with this calm demeanour,” recalled Oisin McConville, a manager with Wicklow and a regular analyst on RTE and BBC.

“I thought, ‘it’s only a matter of time before the mask slips’.

“But it never did. I’d never seen anyone like him before. He never showed emotion, either joy or sadness.”

Others noticed this.

Even though he had a high profile in each role, as Dublin manager or head of the Gaelic Football rules reform committee, he had a habit of talking a lot in interviews, but saying very little.

That may suit this job.

Delivering an opinion is not a necessity to hold the office of President.

In this regard, Gavin is a world class practitioner.

He can be bland but dignified.

Once, at the launch of the Leinster championship at Trim Castle, he spoke so politely about the setting you could have sworn he was a Bord Failte representative.

He is squeaky clean, measured, well-mannered while he also has a fine reputation for visiting the ill and elderly in hospitals, always away from the public eye.

In many respects he is cut from similar cloth as former British monarch, Queen Elizabeth 11.

One was born into royalty; the other became football royalty.

That’s not the common thread, though.

The former Queen lived by the principle to never complain and never explain.

In other words, to keep her opinions to herself, and to accept the downside to a life on the throne, as she was there to serve her people.

That sense of duty will appeal to Gavin’s character too.

He is a quiet patriot, who may be suspected of having a huge ego, but who, until now, has never courted the limelight.

If elected, he will be different to the incumbent President, Michael D Higgins, whose views on the Gaza War and Cuban leader, Felix Castro, offended a few and, arguably, went beyond the scope of his role.

Gavin won’t do that.

The closest he has ever come to a controversy was in 2015, when he said Dublin were not receiving enough free kicks from referees, hardly the type of remark to cause a constitutional crisis.

The Irish people need to know what they are getting. Someone worthy but dull.

Just like Queen Elizabeth, then.

Albeit with more All-Ireland medals.