The GAA can confirm that barrister and former Offaly hurler Rory Hanniffy has been appointed to the position of Secretary of the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA).

He succeeds Professor Jack Anderson who is taking up a new academic post in the University of Melbourne in Australia.

A barrister on the Midland and Dublin circuits, Rory Hanniffy will take over the DRA role on 1 May.

A two-time winner of the Offaly Senior Hurler of the Year Award in 2003 and 2006, Rory Hanniffy enjoyed a glittering career with both club and county. He won Leinster Minor and U-21 Hurling Championship titles with Offaly in 2000 and played 45 senior championship matches for the Faithful County, between 2001 and 2014. With Birr, he won eight Offaly Senior Hurling medals and captained them to their most recent success in 2008. He also won four Leinster Club medals and two AIB All-Ireland Club medals, in 2002 and 2003.

His appointment was welcomed by the GAA’s Ard Stiúrthóir, Páraic Duffy.

He said: “On behalf of the Association I want to thank Jack Anderson sincerely for the time and diligence he brought to the post of Secretary of the DRA and wish him well in his new career in Melbourne.

“We are delighted to be able to call on someone of the calibre of Rory Hanniffy as a successor and wish him well in his new role.”