Career
He was elected President at the annual Gaelic Athletic Association Congress on 12 April 2008 and succeeded Nickey Brennan in the post in 2009 - becoming the 36th President of the Gaelic Athletic Association. In the Gaelic Athletic Association annual Congress in 2005, Nickey Brennan was voted as the new Gaelic Athletic Association President, only 17 votes ahead of Cooney. Brennan"s election was seen as a surprise by some and Cooney thought he had gathered enough support among delegates to secure the position. Brennan said that he hoped Cooney would put his name forward again in the future.
At the time Cooney was president of his local club Youghal.
Cooney ran again for President three years later and was elected with over half the votes at the 2008 Congress, beating Liam O"Neill and Sean Fogarty. In 2011 O"Neill was nominated unopposed to succeed to the post, and did so as Cooney stepped down in April 2012.
Cooney has been widely criticised for his stance on pitch invasions at Croke Park. Due to an anti pitch invasion stance held by Cooney and other Gaelic Athletic Association officials, the Gaelic Athletic Association installed a large fence encompassing perspex screening in front of the Hill 16 end in an effort to deter pitch invasions.
In numerous interviews, Cooney has given the Hillsborough disaster as an example why this fence is needed, yet numerous columnists have pointed out the irony that this fence may actually lead to a Hillsborough type tragedy at Croke Park.
A campaign to get Dublin city council to remove the barrier has begun
Cooney faced the public accounts committee regarding €643,000 spent on foreign travel by FÁSouth executives as well as spending irregularities identified in FÁSouth"s €9m annual advertising budget.