Turley was nominated on Thursday night at a meeting of the Galway executive. Turley will now need the support of one more county in the province in order to be able to contest the election.

Turley is the current Connacht chair of the IFA but had faced a contest from within Galway to receive the nomination to run again for the job.

As it stands, Tom Turley in Galway and Padraic Joyce in Mayo are the only candidates to receive nominations from their own counties in the race.

There are as many as six candidates in Roscommon hoping to get into the race. The Roscommon executive meets next week to decide what it will do.

Neither Sligo nor Leitrim will be fielding a candidate and will have power to decide who it endorses to run.

Other regions

As it stands in Ulster/north Leinster, it appears that Bert Stewart will be returned unopposed. Stewart is the current chair for the region.

Sitting south Leinster chair James Murphy could also be returned unopposed. He has indicated his desire to run for the position again but there is talk in his native Kilkenny that he is considering a push for deputy president. Pat Farrell in Kildare is also thought to be keen on the south Leinster role.

No nominations were made at the Wicklow executive meeting on Thursday night, and chairman Tom Short said they would regroup when it is clear who will be running for south Leinster chair.

In Munster, sitting chair James McCarthy has decided he will not seek re-election. Johnny O’Brien has been nominated by Cork central and John Coughlan has been nominated by Cork north for the position. Both men need their own county executive as well as two other counties in Munster to back them in order to run.

Outgoing Clare IFA chair Andrew Dundas is thought to be considering his options in that race.

Completed nomination and acceptance forms must be received no later than 5.30pm on Wednesday 3 February 2016.