'The son of Michael' paddling his own canoe in the relentless pursuit of glory for Offaly hurling

AS the son of one of Offaly's most recognisable, famous and best known individuals, Brian Duignan has occasionally hurled with a target on his back. A secondary school teacher of history and religion in Dublin, he has long learned to ignore whatever comments he might hear on the fields or on his rare nights out on the town; to turn a blind eye to the abuse or snide remarks he spots about his father on social media.

His father Michael has one of the highest profiles in Offaly, one that transcends the GAA, even if it is the GAA that has made him nationally famous. As a player, Michael Duignan won All-Ireland senior hurling medals in 1994 and 1998, an All-Star award in '98. He played both county hurling and football for Offaly and his decades long work as a hurling analyst with RTE has brought him recognition all over the country.

In Offaly, his playing exploits commanded complete respect but his GAA involvement reached a different orbit, putting him under a new level of scrutiny, when he unseated the incumbent Tommy Byrne in a contest for County Board chairman at the end of 2019. Now in the fifth year of a five year term, Duignan has re-energised the GAA in the county. A fundraising giant, his spell has co-incided with success that most people thought they would never witness again.

Offaly have reached All-Ireland finals in four of the five years, winning U-20 football in 2021 and U-20 hurling just a joyous couple of weeks ago. Many people have contributed over a long number of years but Duignan and secretary Colm Cummins and treasurer Dervill Dolan, who joined him in that extraordinary 2019 coup, have brought things to a higher level, given the GAA a different profile in the county.

The rate of success during their term will ensure their legacy. The possessor of infectious passion for Offaly GAA, Michael Duignan has also stepped on toes, rubbed people up the wrong way and he has made no attempt to hide this side of his personality himself. It is part of who he is and it is part of the reason why occasionally, there are a very small minority of people ready and willing to have a pop when the opening presents itself – not to mention when the opening isn't there and the timing is just wrong!!

To Brian Duignan, he is “Michael” rather than “Dad” or “Daddy” and it is noticeable that he uses his Christian name when talking about him, at least in public.

It is all too easy to dehumanise people in positions of power, to say whatever you want without considering anything else but to Brian and older brother Sean Duignan, he is just a father who has helped steer them into adulthood.

As a hurler, Brian Duignan has followed in his father's footsteps by playing for Offaly and he has emerged as one of the county's top forwards. Just 23 years of age, he is now in his fifth season playing senior county hurling and what might have bothered him as a teen is now water off a duck's back. He wants to be known as Brian Duignan, not the son of Michael Duignan, and he is certainly going about this the right way.

Brilliant in the first half as Offaly returned to top flight hurling with a dramatic 2-23 to 0-26 win over Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup final on Saturday, he no longer reacts or cares when people try to get under his skin by referencing his father.

“No. It probably looks that way from the outside, that there would be a lot of stick given to myself and given to Michael but it doesn't faze me at all and that is because I am used to it. When I was younger, I would have thought about it a bit more. As I get on, I just don't care. There would be games the last few years that I was playing and lads would be saying things to me, your auld lad this and your auld lad that. I just go, I don't care. If you have anything to say, go up and say it to him. He is in the terrace, he is always there, it makes no odds to me,” he said after the victorious homecoming in Shinrone on Sunday.

And he knows very well that his father is well able to deal with any criticism or comments himself, smiling:

“The way Michael is and we all know the way Michael is, he doesn't leave much to the imagination and he says what he thinks but I have to give massive, massive credit to him. I wouldn't say it too often and I wouldn't like to praise him too often but the work he has done in Offaly is outrageous. There is work going on for years behind the scenes and we are definitely not taking away from everything that happened before and we are lucky to have a good group of people but when you see what I see. When I am at home, I see the work that is going on behind the scenes and it is unbelievable. He has a full time job and he has another full time job being chairman. Every day, the phone calls, emails, he has these zoom meetings. He is always going. Everything is for Offaly.

“I suppose while I have a chance to say it for an interview, there is a lot of people on social media and I have seen things about self promotion and Michael trying to make it about himself. Oh my God, I have never seen a man more passionate about the GAA, about his county, about its people. And it is not hurling, it is not football, it is everything. Once Offaly are winning, that is all he wants. It speaks volumes about him, he cares so much about the whole thing. I couldn't speak highly enough about the work he puts in.”

On Saturday, Brian Duignan was at his superb best in the first half, as influential as the magnificent Charlie Mitchell was in the second half. His stunning early goal got Offaly motoring and he added three first half points, getting one more in the second half.

Another element of being Michael Duignan's son is that when he has a bad day, when the ball doesn't stick or fly over the bar, the odd dismissive, loose comment may be passed about him being there because of his father. It is of course rubbish of the very highest order, his performances speak for themselves and he is there very much on merit but such comments are part of being the son of a famous father. Again, he has learned to turn his other cheek and he recalled how a very straight talk from his father at under 16 level was one of the defining moments of his emerging hurling career.

“Again, when I was younger and you'd have a bad game, you would hear, your auld lad this, your auld lad that. It is hard not to think about it when you are a teenager, you are wondering am I going to be any good. As I said to a few of the lads last night when I was talking to them, I remember when I was fifteen, we lost an U-16 county final to Na Fianna. It was our second time to get to the U-16 final and we lost to Na Fianna in O'Connor Park and I was useless, absolutely terrible at corner forward. The next day Michael sat me down and he gave it to me fairly straight. I was confident, I thought I was good and he set me straight. Since then I have gone one way, I have gone the right way but it needed to be said straight. The name doesn't weigh on my shoulders. I am sick of being Michael Duignan's son. Lads need to start calling me myself, I try my best and that is what I do.”

Saturday's Joe McDonagh Cup final week came a week after Tipperary were beaten in the All-Ireland U-20 hurling final. It is a very exciting time for Offaly hurling and as those players get ready for senior county level, the timing of the win could not have been better. The current players have done the younger ones a great service by getting back into the Leinster championship.

For Duignan et-al, this was a huge driving force.

“After last week, the whole thing was drive on and we just needed to get up and give these boys a platform to perform at the highest level. There was a lot of pressure on us to perform and make sure they get the chance. We wanted to get there ourselves so it was great to get over the line after the last few years.”

It came a year after a devastating extra time loss to Carlow in the final.

“It was tough, at times very tough and we took it hard. We came back training this year and we just said, forget about it. We trained hard in Birr Community School, did a lot of running and stuff like that. We just went for it from the start of the year.

“We couldn't face another loss and to be looking at each other in the dressing room in Croke Park and going, if we did this or did that. We had to get over the line and thank God things worked out for us. It was just great to get over the line.”

Offaly had lost to Laois in the first round, throwing away a big lead in the final quarter. They had been the better team for 50 minutes plus that day, playing “some of their best hurling the whole year and playing great” before it unravelled. The Durrow club man is candid about that loss.

“At the end of the day, we didn't win it and Laois deserved to win it. If we were good enough, we would have won. We didn't. Coming into the final, in our heads we were underdogs. We had to do everything right and work hard to win this.

“We looked at the first game, said forget about it, we lost and if we are going to win, we will really have to work for it which we obviously did at the end. We just about got over the line.”

The U-20 hurling win gave them a serious boost – four of that team, Cathal King, Donal Shirley, Dan Bourke and Adam Screeeney started in the Joe McDonagh Cup final while Colin Spain came on as a sub.

“Outrageous. There is a serious bond between our group and the U-20s and even though a lot of them haven't hurled with us yet, some of them have and some of them haven't, we have so much time for them. Going to Nowlan Park last week was unbelievable. To see them get over the line and out on the field afterwards, all the seniors were on the field and the relief from us. We were so proud of all the boys. We just wanted to win. Because of them, we just drove it on. They are unbelievable and we have so much time and respect for them. They are going to push Offaly on again and again. We are going to keep working hard. These boys are going to come and drive standards again. Hopefully, it brings us up to the top.”

He knows that the continued emergence of U-20s will end the county careers of some of the current players. Time will bring a natural end to the career as a couple and others may not be good enough. Duignan talked about the four year journey from the Christy Ring Cup to the Leinster championship, the youth of the current panel, their “good age profile” with an average of 25-26 years old and how this could drop in the next couple of years.

“There is lads close enough to the end of their career and they are after leaving Offaly in a great place. Some of the lads will have to separate, that is just the nature of the game. It is going to happen but we are in a good place now and these lads are just going to push us more and more.”

In his first year as an Offaly senior hurler, they lost to Down on penalties in the Christy Ring Cup semi-final in Newry and that was a shocking blow to the county. Relegation to the third tier a year earlier had been a bitter enough pill to swallow, failure to come out of it was like getting hit on the head with a sledge hammer.

Duignan makes no bones about where they were at that stage.

“It was a difficult time and no disrespect to the lads but we didn't know how to train, we weren't physical enough. We didn't go to the gym and we didn't do anything. When we came out of there after losing the penalty shootout in Newry, it was terrible. It was probably the worse, the lowest we have ever been for Offaly hurling and to come back from that in the space of four years speaks volumes about the whole group.”

12 of that squad are still there now and he spoke about what they had to do to get from there to winning the Joe McDonagh Cup.

“The work we have put in to try and get back up because it means so much to us all. It means the world to all of us and our clubs and family. We just dogged ourselves to get back to where we are.”

Offaly's defeat to Kilkenny in the 2000 All-Ireland senior hurling final spelled the end of a sensational run in the 1980s and 1990s as the county eventually went into free-fall. While heroes from the '80s and '90s were and remain close friends of Michael Duignan and he got to know them, a young Brian grew up witnessing mainly bad hurling days.

Yet the seeds were sown in those dark days as they pucked sliotars in back gardens and the Durrow pitch. Two of his childhood soul-mates and neighbours Ross Ravenhill and Ciaran Burke developed a great passion for hurling in their formative years, progressing from club onto county minor and U-21 teams before making the inevitable step up to senior.

“It was tough. My whole life was hurling, everything was hurling, hurling, hurling. Michael never pushed me or there was never any pressure on me to hurl but that was just the way it was. We just loved it. Everything we did was just hurling orientated.”

Their role models didn't have the All-Ireland medals of one generation earlier but they still inspired a young Duignan, Burke and Ravenhill.

“When you are going to matches and not doing well but we were looking at the Offaly players, Shane Dooley, Brian Carroll, Joe Bergin and genuinely, even though we weren't going well, those boys were unbelievable.”

As they stepped away, Offaly's fortunes plummeted further with relegation to the Christy Ring Cup and by now, the baton was in their hands.

“We said someone has to try and drive us on here and we were lucky enough we were the ones to be in a position to win the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh eventually.”

Duignan and Burke played starring roles on Saturday while Ravenhill was a sub, not long back from injury and not quite fit enough for the red hot heat of Croke Park.

The development of those three players from football territory in Durrow has given a great boost to Offaly hurling – Durrow is their club while they play their hurling with parish neigbours Ballinamere.

The seeds were initially sown when former Offaly stars from the south moved into the area with Michael Duignan and Jim Troy in Durrow, Pat Cleary in Ballinamere.

Cleary and Troy were mentors for much of Duignan's underage career while his father was chairman of the underage club.

“Michael was more so with the older age group. When I growing up, he was chairman of club. It was the very same as being chairman of Offaly. He set standards and tried to drive it on and he gave us a platform to perform.”

They won underage championships and kept on the road. “Myself, Ross and Burkey came together out of nowhere,” he reflected.

They have now been followed by a slightly younger group with Mark Troy in goals on Saturday, Sam Bourke making the squad, Dan Bourke captaining the U-20 hurlers to glory and also playing a starring role against Laois. Ross's younger brother Dan Ravenhill would have been on the U-20 team only for injury and will be a senior county player, injuries permitting.

Describing them as being at a “different level”, he feel the conveyor belt of talent in that area will continue running.

“That was from coming along and watching us and training with us. And I suppose there is going to be more lads coming as well. A lot of young lads in Durrow are going to be looking at these lads and they are not looking at us any more. Even though I am only 23, I am considered an old lad. They are looking at Daniel (Bourke), Dan Ravenhill, Sam and Mark and they just want to hurl. That is what we feel we gave them and they are going to give it to more young lads in Durrow.”

While Durrow and Ballinamere are separate clubs, they are joined at the hips – Durrow play football only, Ballinamere hurling and their players have permission to play the other code with their neighbours.

“Hopefully they keep coming, hurling is not main sport in Durrow but there are so many hurling people in Durrow and Ballinamere, and football people. As far as I am concerned it is the same club. It is two different clubs but we are all the same people. One is hurling and one is football but there is no difference and we all just want to win. That is the way it is, hurling and football.”

It does create some issues as Durrow need Duignan, Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill, Dan Bourke etc to play senior football for them but hurling is their game of choice, their priority. Ciaran Burke and Dan Bourke in particular would probably play senior county football if it wasn't this way while Ross Ravenhill is a very strong club footballer and Mark Troy is well able to play and inflict damage for them.

Brian Duignan admits to his own limitations as a footballer but his physicality, athleticism and strong running would be a very good asset to Durrow. He opted out last year to sort out a hand injury and concentrate on hurling but spoke about the loyalty they have towards Durrow and their desire to put their shoulder to the wheel.

“It is difficult because obviously our first sport is hurling and you want to perform at your best for your own sport but then you don't want to let your club down.

“I couldn't play last year, I needed to focus on the hurling but I am going back this year and there is a good few lads going back. It is my club at the end of the day. Regardless of hurling or football, Durrow is football and we want to represent our club and play senior championship. It is tough to juggle them both, especially when you are senior. I think there is only ourselves and Ferbane dual senior clubs. I know Tullamore are senior B hurling. It is tough going but that is what you have to do.”

Against Laois, Offaly came through a titanic struggle. They were seven points up on a couple of occasions in the second half but were level with the final whistle being tuned up and it looked like Laois had unstoppable momentum.

Where did ye find the reserves to score the last three points and win it?

“I suppose Charlie (Mitchell) started winning a few balls inside. We were out on our feet. It is tough going. The occasion and field and heat and everything in Croke Park just gets to you. It is hard to explain but when you are out there, you just get drained and all of a sudden, there is five minutes to go and they are coming back into it. It is oh Jesus, we are under serious pressure here. Then Charlie got a couple of scores and we were just so so delighted to get over the line.”

As a unit, the Offaly forward line tipped over into empty in the second half – they have played with just five up front all year and in Croke Park, most of them drifted back to shore up a besieged defence. In Croke Park, playing with five up front exacted a heavier toll than other venues.

“It is mad. If you play a match here in Shinrone, it would be grand with five forwards but when you go to Croke Park, it is so big, so wide. It is a tough place to play and there is always space.”

For Duignan, his 1-4 haul provided sweet redemption. Remarkably, he played but failed to score in the Christy Ring Cup final win against Derry in 2021 and the Joe McDonagh Cup final loss to Carlow in Croke Park last year. Offaly scored 41 points v Derry, 1-32 v Carlow last year and understandably, he looked on this statistic as a monumental failure.

“I set out yesterday and said I was going to right all my wrongs and really go for it and thank God, it all worked out for me.”

Not only that but he had remedied it after just two minutes, racing onto a fantastically intuitive Dan Bourke flick and blasting a sensational shot to the roof of the net. That goal was instrumental in Offaly's win and he had worked on it the previous week, without much success against club mate Mark Troy.

“I was telling a few people about it. During the week, last Tuesday and Thursday, I was practicising that exact thing. Brendan Maher (team coach) was pucking me out balls and I was taking on that shot and Mark Troy saved every single shot I took. Brendan Maher pulled me aside and said, you will get a chance on Saturday, one chance and you will stick it. Keep practicising. The second I got the ball in my hand I knew exactly what I was going to try and do. I might have went a little bit high for the manager's liking but it doesn't matter, it went in and that is all that counts.

“I hadn't scored so I said I would really go for it. When you get a goal, especially in a final, it settles you so much.”

It also showed the understanding between him and Dan Bourke, a telepathy that developed outside the more formal setting of county and club team training.

“Daniel got the ball and was going to go for a point. I was shouting at him, I was roaring at him. Only for the fact that we had played together for the last few years, he knows me and I know him, he passed it without looking. If you watch the video, he never even looked and gave it into me. That settled me so well and after that, I had the confidence to shoot and see what happens. They all went over the bar.”

In the second half, Duignan was one of many who went into the red and he makes no bones about this.

“Yeah, the legs were gone. There is no point in lying about it. There is still a bit of work to be done in terms of fitness for the whole panel. As I said earlier, when you are playing in Croker, you get drained so easily. The first few minutes of the second half, you are buzzing and I had full legs, then all of a sudden they just went and that is the way it is. Then we got lucky, Charlie and Cillian (Kiely) got the legs to keep going. I wasn't offering much in the last few minutes.”

For many young people, including players, time out and travel to a foreign country is almost a mandatory part of growing up but Duignan has removed this from his agenda.

He answered very definitively when asked if hurling will keep him at home.

“Yes. It seems like every time I answer a question, I come back to myself and Ross and Burkey because the three of us have been soldiering on, I suppose since we were fourteen when we really started getting into it. You can't go. It is hard to explain to people who don't understand, especially when you are not from Offaly. Other counties think that you can just go on and come back but when you are from Offaly, we have such a small pick and selection. The lads that are in a position to play for Offaly, you have to stay and you have to give everything.”

Belmont's Paddy Clancy and Shinrone's Adrian Cleary opted out of the panel to go to Australia this year. He has no problem with anyone who chooses this road, it just isn't for him and he would encourage others to stay around.

“You can't hold it against them. Them lads will come back. They will have something to offer Offaly and they are big losses. Really we can't afford to have lads going away. We need everyone who is capable of hurling for Offaly here. It is a tough life and it is tough to stay at home and keep hurling for Offaly. I only live an hour up the road in Dublin so it is not too bad but it is a difficult life.”

For a few weeks, his life consisted of Offaly training on a Tuesday and Thursday, down on a Wednesday to look at the U-20s while hurling took the weekends.

”You are up and down the road but it is what you do and it is for these days. That is all it is.”

It was suggested that the young U-20s will need him and many more to keep ploughing for a good few years; that it will take them a few years to get the the required physicality and that he will be at his peak in three-four years time.

“From looking at the boys coming in to train with us, their level of skill and fitness is through the roof for young lads. There is obviously a bit of work to do gym wise, that is the way it is. We were all the same at 20. They have a couple of years to do in the gym but they are going to be exceptional. Even next year, realistically in the Leinster championship, there is going to be six lads who will be so important to us coming off that U-20 team, regardless of their size or what is going on with them.”

In the mean time, Offaly compete in the Leinster championship and Division 1B next year. This opens up the possibility of rude awakenings, bad beatings but Duignan is looking on it all way more positively than that.

“You can't go into Division 1 league and Leinster championship next year fearing anyone because if you are afraid of those teams, you are going nowhere. You can't sit back, you just have to go and hurl. We can look at the U20s, the way they hurl against these big counties. There is no fear and they play with passion and they play the way they know they can play. That is what we have to do. Just go out and do what we can do. Just hurl, just hurl. Look it, we might get a few beatings and we might turn teams over. At the end of the day, it is about developing the next few years. Year by year, if we improve, that's our goal.”