From club to county, Michael Duignan talks of a life immersed in the GAA

FROM CHILDHOOD TO FATHERHOOD, IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD, GAA HAS BEEN MY LIFE

HHeURLING has always been such a part of my life. I grew up in Banagher (Offaly), on Cuba Avenue, after my father got a job and moved out there from Birr in 1970.

bought a house 200 yards from the sports field, which was how it was known back then. I’d say I was around eight years of age when I went down and started playing. One of my earliest memories is getting the slap of a wet sliothar on the ear. I didn’t like it and set off to cycle home — only to think twice about it when I got to the front door — and went back again.

That’s where it all started and with St Rynagh’s being kingpins when I was growing up, I quickly fell in love with the game.

There were no age restrictions back then. I won four Under-14 Féiles in-a-row in Offaly and the trips to Mooncoin in Kilkenny, Galway (twice) and St Vincent’s in Dublin were special.

I was into all sports — Gaelic football, athletics, whatever was on television. There was a tennis club in Banagher and I played there as well, and then when I went to boarding school in Garbally College (Galway), I got a taste for rugby. It all helped to develop a natural athletic ability and playing with Offaly grew from that.

The senior team making the breakthrough in 1980 really struck a chord. Pádraig Horan from my own club was on that team, along with Damien Martin and Aidan Fogarty. I was 12 years of age in 1980 when they won Leinster and then they won the All-Ireland in ’81. So that’s kind of all I knew and I’d always give those lads great credit.

To play in a county final with Damien Martin and Pádraig Horan and then to play with that Offaly ’80s team was brilliant. We won an All-Ireland minor title in ’86 and I came straight on to the senior panel.

I was fierce lucky I suppose, that I played with both great Offaly teams. I played with Jim Troy, Eugene Coughlan, Ger Coughlan, Joachim Kelly, Mark Corrigan, Aidan Fogarty... all of those lads off that team. And then to go along and play with the great team of the ’90s too, I was just fierce lucky that I played with so many off the two teams. And they were such different personalities and different characters.

We won a few Leinsters, but it was a long time from ’86 to ’94 until we did eventually win the All-Ireland, first in 1994 and then in just as dramatic circumstances in 1998.

I often look back on the two All-Irelands that we did win and both of them were won in such unusual circumstances, if you like. The Limerick game will never be forgotten for the way we came back. And in ’98 the year was just mad in terms of everything that went on with Babs Keating and the Clare matches and the back door. And even with Waterford and Clare down in Munster, it was such an epic year.

I suppose in the ’94 final against Limerick we didn’t play particularly well. The Dooleys, Johnny, Joe and Billy, deserve huge credit because they scored 2-11 between the three of them in an AllIreland final. Three brothers in a forward line out of the one house, that’s an incredible achievement.

They actually did the same thing in the first county final that they won when they beat us. The three of them scored 2-11 between them that day. Johnny was only 16 at the time. You can’t underestimate their contribution to that particular win in ’94. By ’98 I had more experience and I really enjoyed the whole year. I was living in Naas at the time and my young lad Sean was born that February. I won a Towns Cup and a Leinster League with Naas RFC that year. I used to travel down to Offaly hurling training with Babs [Michael Keating] and he was a great character. We had a good win against Wexford in the Leinster semi-final but in the final we didn’t play well. I often think that maybe Babs forgot that we were still in the Championship with the back door because he really let loose at us. We just needed something to spark us into gear and that certainly did. And then the Clare matches were just unbelievable. My favourite match is probably the 1995 Leinster final against Kilkenny because it was a phenomenal game despite the bad weather, but without a doubt the best year of my sporting life was ’98. There were just so many big matches to be involved in. Playing in Semple Stadium in Thurles and then back to Croke Park again.

Even our tough men could hurl. Kevin Kinahan was a hard man at full-back but he was a fantastic hurler. Martin Hanamy was a great man, too. There was a lot of heart in that team but you had athleticism too in men like Kevin Martin. He was a vital cog coming into that team in ’94 when he was only 20 years of age. He fulfilled a massive role from then until he retired. He was one of the great wing-backs. Brian Whelahan was on the other wing and then Hubert Rigney was the enforcer in between the two of them at centre-back.

Johnny Pilkington’s flair and athleticism. His character, his personality, which was larger than life, was a huge part of our team. And then the skill of the Dooleys and John Troy and Whelahan, obviously, the magician, the Millennium Man.

It didn’t happen by accident. There was huge work done there. We had great times, fun, and holidays. We drank a few pints when the time was right but, in general, we were very serious about our game.

I look back with great pride and I’m delighted to have been part of it.

I wasn’t in the same class as a lot of those players I mentioned, but I was probably an intelligent hurler. I knew what I could do and I was a good ballwinner and could get a few important scores now and again. I was able to fit in to the team and do what had to be done.

And I suppose I could play in a lot of positions which was a big help. I was happy once I was on the field. Someone said to me once that I played in a lot of positions for Offaly. I said, ‘Between hurling and football I played 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.’ Joe Dooley was there and as quick as a flash said, ‘17, 18, 19, 20!’ You don’t get away with much!

Working as a match commentator and analyst with RTÉ helped soften the blow of retiring from inter-county hurling. Particularly after my wife Edel died in September 2009. Hurling seemed to be linked to everything. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, Edel went in to hospital on the morning of the All-Ireland final. When she died, the GAA and hurling played a big part in keeping myself and the two lads, Sean and Brian, going.

It kept us together, kept us close. Through my involvement with The

Sunday Game, the lads came everywhere.

I came to live in Durrow 15 years ago now, and ended up playing a bit, winning a junior medal in 2010 and getting involved at committee level with the club and training teams.

Training the club to a Minor A Championship, with Sean as captain, in 2016 probably meant more to me than anything I achieved as a player. The two lads were both playing. Sean won Offaly Minor Hurler of the Year and then Brian earned the same honour last year when we went and won it again.

My involvement with the GAA has been unbroken since I started – it’s been my life really.