Michael Duignan reflects on five years of super highs, real progress, the odd low and occasional controversy - Part 1

HUGE on and off field progress was made during MICHAEL DUIGNAN'S five year term as Offaly GAA chairman. He sat down recently with Tribune Sports Editor, KEVIN CORRIGAN to discuss five very intensive and eventful years, ones that had loads of highs, some lows and the odd controversy.

FIVE years and maybe three or four months ago, Michael Duignan sat down for an in-depth interview as he outlined the reasons why he was challenging for Offaly GAA chairman, taking on the incumbent and one of Offaly's longest serving administrators, Tommy Byrne, Gracefield.

Just before Christmas, we returned to the same location for a second lengthy chat. The seats were just a few metres away but in terms of what has happened since then, an ocean of water has passed and Michael Duignan and Offaly GAA is in a very different place.

Five years ago, he was heading down the road less travelled. While he was one of Offaly's best known GAA personalties, he was entering uncharted territory when he decided to put his name forward for chair. A former county dual player, his hurling exploits as Offaly won All-Ireland minor hurling in 1986, senior in 1994 and 1998 earned him a lasting place in the county's affections. His work as a hurling analyst with RTE kept his profile sky high after his playing career ended in the first decade of the 2000s and he had served the County Board very well as a fundraiser for big development projects in O'Connor Park and Kilcormac's Faithful Fields.

His decision, however, to go for chairman was a huge one and it is only now as we reflect on his five years at the helm that the full enormity of what he and colleagues did dawns fully. The former St Rynagh's and now Durrow club man was coming from outside the long tried and tested route to GAA administration. He had served as chairman of Ballinamere-Durrow minor club but had never been an officer of the County Board or a club delegate at meetings.

Not only was he taking on one of Offaly's most experienced administrators in Tommy Byrne, a proven vote getter since he began his county administration career back in 2002, but he was coming from outside the County Board family and doing so from a podium that said very clearly: we don't believe the existing board has been good enough and change is required to bring Offaly forward!

Over the previous months and years, discontent about where Offaly GAA was had been expressed in a variety of forums and ways. There had been no shortage of flash points over the years but this was the first time a group of people came together and put their heads on the block.

The ball started rolling when Michael Duignan, Colm Cummins (Edenderry), Dervill Dolan and Brian Gavin (both Clara) held initial discussions and then convened a meeting in Tullamore. It was a hand picked meeting in some ways, with several former county footballers and hurlers in attendance, well known GAA supporters and some club officers and activists, who also wanted change.

Out of that, it was decided to contest targeted positions at the forthcoming Convention. Duignan emerged as the natural leader and went for chair, Cummins put his name forward for vice chairman, Dolan for treasurer and Gavin for Leinster Council delegate.

They canvassed widely, met club committees in person and as word of club's voting intentions emerged following their AGMs, it became clear that the wind was on the challengers' backs. I remember doing a roll call a couple of weeks out from Convention of what I knew from club meetings, the way they were voting and being surprised when the numbers clearly indicated that Michael Duignan would win and possibly with a bit to spare.

There had been a feeling that clubs would be reluctant to go for such radical change but as Convention loomed, it became clear that their message was winning support. There were big turning points during the campaign and on a night of high drama in Tullamore, a very nervous Duignan won with fourteen votes to spare, 76-62 – not a huge margin and a couple of swings would have made it very tight but still borderline comfortable: in any event, like any football and hurling game, the result was all that mattered, not the margin of victory.

Dolan beat Birr's Jimmy Hogan for treasurer, Gavin was elected Leinster Council delegate and the big downside for the group was a surprise defeat for Colm Cummins by Rhode's James Murphy for vice chair. It was always possible that delegates would not give them everything they wanted and would deliver a smack on the wrist for the way they called their initial meetings but a big factor in Cummins' loss was that Edenderry and him by extension were associated with moves to do away with or diminish big parish underage amalgamations such as St Vincent's, Na Fianna, St Broughan's, St Manchan's Gaels etc.

In the wind up it worked out for the best. Cummins was an absolutely pivotal part of the package, a fantastic organiser with a great understanding of GAA rules and regulations, and he became secretary a year later when Pat Horan, St Rynagh's did not enter into a contest, complaining that officers were canvassing against him. Dolores Slevin, Kilcormac-Killoughey unseated Gavin as Leinster Council delegate that night but for Duignan and Dolan, the elevation of Cummins into a senior position was the final piece of their jigsaw.

They embarked on five incredibly intensive years but history will reflect very well on what they did and their tenure. Most importantly, spectacular success arrived on the playing fields – a completely unexpected triumph in the All-Ireland U-20 football championship in 2021 gave them the creditability and legitimacy they craved.

This was quickly followed by great hurling success as Offaly were pipped in the most heartbreaking of circumstances in the 2022 All-Ireland minor hurling final, lost the U-20 final a year later and finally got across the line in the 2024 U-20 decider when they gained revenge on Tipperary for that '22 loss. An outstanding group of young hurlers created a welter of excitement in the county as younger generations experienced success for the first time, older people saw things they had accepted they would never witness again. Success for the senior hurlers in the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2024 and return to top flight hurling was the icing on a delicious tasting cake.

Those playing successes are the most important pieces of the Michael Duignan et-al epitaph but there was much more. The GAA enjoyed a new profile in Offaly during their term and entered a different orbit in terms of finance. Expenditure reached record levels but Duignan proved to be a fundraising juggernaut, drawing in money from untapped sources.

There were controversies, particularly an ugly row with Tullamore GAA Club over the terms of the O'Connor Park lease in their early days; the level of money now required leaves a can of worms for all successors; the senior footballers ensured a horrific end to their 2024 season with Tailteann Cup defeats to London and Limerick and not everything went smoothly. The good, however, outweighed any negatives by a country mile and Duignan, Cummins and Dolan exited at Convention with their heads held high, backs sore from laudatory slaps, ears burning from warm praise.

Over five years ago, Michael Duignan was on edge when we met: keen to sell himself to the wider GAA public, determined to get their message and rationale across while minimising the hurt to individuals who had served the county well and with the very best of intentions. He was nervous of saying the wrong thing and walking into the accompanying haymaker but he spoke with infectious passion, clarity and honesty – he did the same in his myriad of meetings with clubs and individuals in the build up and the outcome showed that they had succeeded in selling their message well.

Their only motivation was to improve Offaly GAA, it couldn't have been anything else and before Christmas, Duignan was in an equally open but much more relaxed frame of mind as he reflected on it all and five years of involvement that took over his life – though he did manage to fit in a lot more, including marriage to Kildare woman, Aisling Fennin.

Sitting here today, the enormity of what you and the lads did five years ago hits home?

“It probably was unprecedented and the tone of our conversation today will be a good bit different than that. It would be fair to say that I was trying to sell myself at that stage. Over the previous few months myself and Colm and Dervill and Brian Gavin had got together and decided to go forward so we had to get our message out there.

“You were looking for people to believe you, number one that you had credibility and that you were going to make a change. It probably is unprecedented in the history of the GAA for a group of people to come like that from the outside, because of the structure of the GAA and the way it works. When it is working properly it is working properly and I said it the other night, we need people from within to come forward for positions in the future.

“We really felt that change was needed and new leadership was needed. We met here and I did various interviews. Without fully knowing the workings and the scale of the thing, my instinct was to look at the things that needed improving. While I would have been outside the admin role, I would have had a huge knowledge of the workings of the GAA. A lot of what I talked about in that interview have probably come to past. Maybe not everything had went to plan but a lot of the stuff did.”

Looking at the way the wheel has turned in the last few years on the playing fields, we can see how bad things were but maybe didn't fully appreciate it at the time?

“Maybe not, maybe you get used to it. I don't really want to go back there in fairness, it's not about that but it was bad. We are a dual county and I was very much a dual chairman I hope but the Christy Ring (third tier in hurling) was the thing. Less than 20 years ago we were playing an All-Ireland final and now we are in the Christy Ring Cup. We were being pitied, that great pride that was in the Offaly jersey was gone and people had sort of given up.

“The amount of people who said to me, they never thought we would be back in an All-Ireland final never mind four years in a row and winning them. I had that belief and ambition that we could do it if we restructured. There was a lot to it.

“We have a (county) chairman's group and the Armagh chairman said, being a county chairman is one of the toughest jobs going. There is a vastness to it. While yes things were bad, I wouldn't like to be over critical of the people who were there giving up their time. It is very difficult with the pressure that is on, particularly on the financial side. If you are under pressure and you don't have money to go and do things, you are in a bad starting point. We were stuck on a round about and we had to get out of it. Thank God we have moved on.”

Were you shocked at the volume of work, the more mundane aspects of the role, the committees you had to be on, meetings you had to attend and phone calls you had to take?

“I was probably warned there would be a huge amount and I sort of knew there would be. Even being involved with the club, Ballinamere-Durrow on the minor side, there was a lot to it. I was probably prepared for it without knowing the detail of it and that is why the team of people I had with me was so important. Colm didn't get elected the first year which was a big setback to us.

“In hindsight, it probably wasn't as bad because when he came back he went into the secretary's role, he would have been gone into vice chairman if elected. James Murphy was elected and that entails chairing the CCC (Competitions Control Committee), where James with Christy (Todd) and Pat Teehan did a great job. I don't think it would have been a strength of Colm's to be in a role like that.

“He did stay involved that year but having Colm and Dervill, and particularly Christy Todd in the early days was crucial. I'll be straight up about it, I had never been at a County Board meeting. Even chairing a County Board meeting is daunting. There is 100 people sitting there and they all have their proper agendas for their club and the county.

“After Colm came in after year one, the structure we put on all our meetings was huge. All the sub committees had to be filled. Some of them under regulation have to be filled in certain ways. Others, we took a bit of poetic licence on in terms of we amalgamated our Coiste na nOg and Coaching and Games committees all into the one. We have someone from each underage club on that committee and that has been a very vibrant group.

“Even though it was an awful time for us all and my own father died in March 2020, Covid came so quickly on us. It probably gave us that bit of time to establish all of that and our strategic plan. We had many a zoom or teams call during Covid. I stayed with my mother a couple of nights a week in Banagher after my father died and nearly every night I was down there, she was feeding me unbelievable. Between dinners and dessert and a glass of wine, we were on these teams meeting. We had huge engagement with all clubs and got a lot of feedback from interested people as we were putting our strategic plan together.

“We used that time very well and it gave us a bit of breathing space, even financially. It gave us a chance to get our feet under the table because we were all very new to it. It was an awful time but it served me well. It threw up a lot of issues you had to lead on. There was no training and some counties were caught training. We were very strong that we would follow the rules because there was a strong fear at the time. I felt we were leaders in the county and I took on that Community Champion role with Offaly County Council which was huge and we built that around the GAA, a community within a community. I sat on the Council's main Covid group. All of that was very positive and it gave me a lot of engagement with clubs and people. You could see the good of people despite the challenges we had.

“I said that when I sat with you here before. Having gone around and met the clubs, I was surprised in a good way at the quality of people out there. It was a bit frustrating as well. They were putting us under the cosh when we met them but they didn't seem to be doing that at County Board level or meetings. That is back to what you said about accepting where we were. So we just go back to our clubs and work away there, and this Offaly thing is gone. We don't have the numbers, we don't have the population so we will leave it at that.”