Michael Duignan interview part 5: Dealing with social media, hurling finals in Birr and parish rule conflicts

You are the highest profile most public chairman Offaly GAA has had and have a high social media presence. You have had to deal with a lot of adverse comments over the five years and reacted sometimes in the early days. Is social media and the way a small minority vent a hard side of it?

“I have reacted a couple of times, though probably not as much in the last year or two and that is the right thing to do. I have sort of come to peace with social media a little bit. It is a great outlet if used correctly but it is so easy for people to have cheap shots and I hate cheap shots. I don't mind if someone says something legitimate. The peace I have made is the silent majority in Offaly say nothing. The people who will praise you don't say it which is fine, you aren't looking to be clapped on the back.

“I did see a change after the U20 All-Ireland. I was overwhelmed by the people who came to me and wrote to me after that, which was an un-Offaly like thing to an extent. You have to take it and some of it may be justified. None of us are right or perfect all of the time but I don't like cheap shots. A lot of them just don't know what they are talking about, they haven't been involved and they have no idea of what goes in across the board. It is a massive organisation. It probably did bother me a little bit earlier but it doesn't bother me any more. I have taken the view not to react.”

There might be five or six people making comments but they don't represent the thousands saying nothing?

“They (the thousands) don't tend to put their head above the parapet which is fine. If you are fair about the thing, do you get everything right? No. Have we achieved a lot? Yes. If someone wants to find fault in things, they can. Some of it is jealousy, whatever it is and you can't help that. That is there problem, not mine.”

You were instrumental in the Offaly senior hurling final going back to Birr in 2023. It was something you wanted but it didn't go down well with everyone, including some on your own Management Committee?

“We said we would look at it. We knew there was a process for that to happen and when we got into it and had discussions with Birr, it is not as simple as just playing a match in Birr, far from it. Our county grounds are O'Connor Park in Tullamore, we have sponsors up there. Signage sponsors at €150,000, it is one of the big days of the year for the shops. You have all that. You have the facilities, the dressing rooms, warm up area, which is not there in Birr. They have to go across to the school so they are all things that had to be factored in but we did promise to look at it and it was something personally that I wanted to do.

“I thought it was taken out of Birr for the wrong reasons. I know there were issues but it was very abrupt and it was final. I think it did do a lot of damage with the relationship between the clubs down there and the County Board and also on the ground where you have a lot of small clubs, who are trying to grow. Having that massive weekend down there was very important but again there was huge work involved in the organisation of it. They were probably shocked by the scale of it. Once you have a crowd of over 5,000 you are into a massive programme. Dervill (Dolan) spearheaded that on the operations side, he put huge work in with Birr and Pat Thompson and Dave Coffey in particular, John Irwin and the lads. It was a great occasion. The final was a bit one sided but the whole day, the weather was brilliant, the occasion brilliant, the atmosphere in the town brilliant and I think it mended a lot of bridges.

“I think Birr will come with something in the new year with proposing playing the odd county final there. I am not sure what shape that will take and I will probably be talking to them before that. The reason some of the people in our own were against it was because of those reasons I outlined and they are all true. There is no argument with them and O'Connor Park is our county ground.

“We felt there was a bigger picture., a bigger issue. What happens in the future, I don't know. I think there will be more discussion around it before anything is agreed. There was chat at the time about one every two years, one every other year but that is not going to happen, in my view. I will be on the management and involved in discussions but there might be a case for an odd county final being there over X amount of years or on special occasions. That is the way I see it going.”

You were in a position where you could possibly have forced through a policy of Birr having the final every second or third year but you steered clear. Was there a temptation to do that?

“I think we were going well and we probably could have got it over the line if we wanted to but that is not the right thing for the county. We have spent €12 million on O'Connor Park up there, one of the best grounds in the country. The players love it, the clubs love it. I would have said all this to Birr.”

It is also possible that Kilcormac-Killoughey and some hurling clubs in the south want to play in O'Connor Park?

“And that is the truth of it but at the same time, you know where Birr and the surrounding clubs are coming from, from a historical point of view. From what it means to the young people down there and trying to grow the games. You saw Birr's resurgence getting underage club of the year. We would have had these discussions with Birr. What are ye doing on the ground, what are ye doing to promote hurling? They have responded as well and they have a GPO (Games Promotion Officer) down there full time for the last number of years and are working really hard. And all the smaller clubs.

“Go back to my Go Games, every club in south Offaly has their own underage team at U8. Lusmagh, Clareen (Seir Kieran), Drumcullen, all separate until they don't have the numbers. That is the model and that is the way they are supposed to do it. They are doing their bit and it shouldn't be a south Offaly, north Offaly thing anyway. I would have played a lot of county finals in Birr and I understand what it brings to the area. It is not our responsibility but we have sponsors down there as well, Birr have their sponsors. That side of the county is trying to generate funds as well.

“There is a balancing act there and it is not for me to lead it after this. In general, I would be in favour of the odd county final being played there.”

Are you talking every five years, every ten years, or less?

“I wouldn't like to say something now that would be misconstrued but once every number of years. Maybe five years or something like that.”

One of the arguments for Birr was that it was a fortress for Offaly hurling but that was a red herring. It was never that, even in your day, and in my time, I never saw Birr being a fortress. Was that sort of talk unhelpful maybe?

“I think the thing got so bad, septic, between both sides that there was no sense. There was Birr and Crinkle as well (border row), and Carrig (-Riverstown) had their differences. Myself and Colm were involved in discussions there over a couple of years. There were issues locally here with Tullamore, issues with Drumcullen and Kinnitty and these things are so personal and so tough to deal with.

“All you are trying to do is steer and advice but we are not there living the thing on the ground. There is an Official Guide and rule book that guides all this, that you have to be led by and nothing else matters really. Again, you are trying to manoeuvre around them. I think it was important when we came in that we had a fresh look at it and we did have a fresh look at it. We achieved something that people were very happy with. It was a fantastic celebration of Birr, there was a night before hand and the day, even the national anthem with John Molloy. Everything about it was brilliant.

“As it said with the Tullamore lease, it is resolved and you move on. Everyone wasn't happy about it but I still think it was the right thing. Some of my biggest followers didn't agree with me but we didn't fall out with it either. I had to put my neck on the line a bit too.”

There were parish rule issues between Cappincur and Tullamore, Drumcullen and Kinnitty, Ballycumber and Belmont during your five years. Was that one of the most difficult parts of your term?

“One thing I tried to do was stay aloof from the CCC (Competitions Control Committee) and stay independent. In my first couple of months in the job, I got a couple of calls from chairs about certain issues that had happened, sending offs, this, that and the other and I politely told them never to ring me again because I am not going there. I am not talking to anyone about any player, the CCC are in charge.

“It was only then we we were asked to intervene or meet certain groups that we did. Myself, Colm and Dervill again and I think we would have given good advice and steered things but it is very tough. There is two sides to every story, you are dealing with humans and kids, children that want to play our games and they don't understand all this stuff.

“We have a parish rule. Ger Coughlan (Kinnitty chairman) said to me one night, the Dooley's (Joe, Billy, Johnny etc, who lived in Kinnitty parish but played with Seir Kieran) and this, that and the other but that was up to Kinnitty to object if they wanted to. That is where it is at, we are not the Gestapo, we are not going around policing where people live and don't live. But everyone knows where they live and if people let them flow, it is up to clubs to challenge them but when you do that and put it in writing, then the reality hits home. You are into players being suspended, chairmen and secretaries being suspended. It has happened , it is not nice and these are all volunteers.

“We talked about this at Central Council level a number of weeks ago, I brought it up for discussion about the severity of suspensions on chairs and secretaries. It is ridiculous, they are dragged into this stuff and then suspended for three months. It is a slight on your character if you are suspended. I was suspended a couple of times and rightly so. For different things, it wasn't for breaking the parish rule. I went through my whole career and was only sent off once. I would loved to have been able to say I went through my whole career without being sent off. I got three months that time and you still think about it but for something you are not directly involved in and have no control over. . .

“We had that on a number of occasions in my term and while none of the people involved have ever said a word to me, you do wonder does it affect their relationship or how they view the County Board because you need their support when you want to change or amend things. When there are votes and that, you need people with you and you don't want them soured over something that has nothing to do with the bigger picture.

“This is where this local stuff gets into play and can affect the bigger picture and doing the right thing. Generally we kept out of it and then we were brought into certain scenarios and gave our opinion. Some were resolved and some weren't. Some are out there still and making the most of it because they realise that when you sign that and send that in, it will be dealt with.”

Some parents and others start talking about mental health when they are told their children can't play where they want to but your main job is to enforce the rules of the GAA?

“That is my only job. At the end of the day, you have to. It is part of being that public figure or maybe because we were achieving so much, people think you can sort anything out. I think a lot of the stuff that came to light during our term wasn't by accident. It came because they thought we would be able to sort it out, one way or the other. One side thought they would win or the other side thought they would win. You can't and it does get messy very quickly. I said that to several chairmen that contacted me before stuff, if you can sort it locally, try and sort it. That would be my advice always.

“Some of the stuff is so deep rooted and that is the lonely part of the job. You are dealing with stuff and you are carrying stuff. At the end of the day, the buck stops with you as the chair. That is why the support of the team around you is so important but when I am driving along in the car over the last five years, I never turn on the radio, I am always thinking and generally it is about Offaly GAA. It should be about work and other things at times but you are thinking about things and trying to pre-empt things. You can see things developing before they do and sometimes you have to make the hard call and it is not popular but if it is the right thing, it is the right thing. Long term, that will win out. Down the road when people see some of the things we did and maybe they were not happy with at the time, they will see that.

“One chairman rang me about a player being sent off and said he shouldn't have been, they were going to appeal it to Leinster and that. He was very irate and every time he rang me, he was getting worse. This was in the early days and eventually he rang me and I was driving over towards Tesco, he rang again. I said, X, I am going to tell you what to do, ring Shane Buggy, hire a bus. Another club had someone sent off as well and they weren't happy either, he brought them into it as well. I said collect all yeres and all those in the other club, bring them to Portlaoise (Leinster Council offices) and f*** off, don't ever ring me again. The two objections were withdrawn the next day, both had appealed sending offs to Leinster.

“That independent bit was hugely important, it was hugely important that we weren't in the game of intervening with the process. Yet we were in the game of trying to resolve issues, help and advice. Myself and Colm spent an awful lot of time on particular clubs.”

The parish rule has been a fundamental of Offaly GAA for over a 100 years and Offaly's can't go down a different road. Half a dozen clubs would be gone in a few years?

“If you look at Ballinagar club in the last three, four years. They were in deep trouble. Okay they got a few houses, developed a few young lads, got them through. They could have went under and if we didn't have the parish rules, their good players would have went to a bigger club. It is a great example and you have to strive. Some clubs are really going to struggle because they haven't the numbers there but they have managed to stay going up to now and it is such an integral part of the community, the GAA Club.

“I think this thing of being free to go would be a disaster and it reflects on you. You have to build that passion, determination, heart and resilience that you build in your own club from playing with your own club. That love of the game, you build all that through your own club and then it transfers into the county. If you don't have that, you are in trouble. You have a disagreement and you just leave. . . . . We lost young players at underage level out in Ballinamere-Durrow over that because they could go. Then we penned an agreement with Tullamore that you couldn't go unless both clubs agreed, to stop that happening. You would have no control, no discipline. People could just walk away whenever they wanted.”

Does it frustrate you that some club chairmen don't do their most basic job when it comes to the parish rule which is apply the rules of the GAA in Offaly. Every club, both the one receiving and losing a player, knows exactly where he lives and if he is legal or illegal?

“Where it has to start is if someone comes into your gates and they are not in your catchment area, you don't register them and I did that as chairman of Ballinamere-Durrow minor club on occasion. “On a couple of occasions, we had to ring parents of players who had been there a couple of years and say they can't play. I remember saying that to one parent, and they are a fairly prominent Tullamore family, she said but the kids are in Ballinamere school. I said yes but you are living in Tullamore and you are a Tullamore family; that they might play here in National School but when they get to 13-14, they are going to want to go to Tullamore. She said, well ye have a great set up here. . . But this is about having standards, making the tough call, saying you shouldn't be here, you should be there.

“Then there is an onus on that club where they should be to be providing what I am talking about, the nursery, the Go Games, a proper club structure. That is my issue with some clubs, they want lads from their catchment area to play with them, yet they have nothing for them. That is the balance. Build your 41 clubs, build your nurseries, build your Go Games. Build from top to bottom and get your own kids in.