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EXHIBIT 31.1 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CERTIFICATION
GA FINANCIAL, INC.

I, John M. Kish, certify that:



|1. |  | I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of GA Financial, Inc.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
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|2. |  | Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
this quarterly report;
|  
|3. |  | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
flows of the Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
quarterly report;                   
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|4. |  | The Registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Registrant and have:                                                                                                   



| | a) |  | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures or caused such
disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
Registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
which this quarterly report is being prepared;          
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| | b) |  | Evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrants disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
of the period covered by this quarterly report based on such
evaluation; and                                                                                                    
|
| | c) |  | Disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the Registrants
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
Registrants most recent fiscal quarter (the Registrants fourth
fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
Registrants internal control over financial reporting; and



|5. |  | The Registrants other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
the Registrants auditors and the Audit Committee of Registrants Board of
Directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | a) |  | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrants ability to
record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | b) |  | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
employees who have a significant role in the Registrants internal
control over financial reporting.                                                                                               



Date: May 7, 2004

/s/ John M. Kish