Digan happy to be helping at home in Ferbane 

By Cian O’Connell

Fifteen years ago, Georgie Digan trained a Ferbane U16 team. It was a time when Ferbane were beginning to stir at underage level. The intervening decade and a half brought significant encouragement for a proud club in Offaly.

Digan was involved with different outfits in that spell. Living in Dublin, though, Digan wasn’t sure if the opportunity to manage the Ferbane seniors would ever happen. “I thought my time had passed a little bit with Ferbane, and I'd made peace with that,” Digan reflects on the eve of another Offaly SFC Final against the bluebloods, Tullamore.

“I hadn't put my name in ever for it or the club hadn't approached me really hard to come back to take it on, but I said maybe being away from home living in Dublin, that the time had just passed.”

Significant experience had been accumulated as a coach and manager of underage inter-county teams and in the club game too. “Obviously, I was involved with other teams like Sallins in Kildare as coach, we'd a run to the All-Ireland semi-final,” he adds.

“I was in Roscommon with St Aidan's in the Covid years of '20 and '21. I was keeping my toe in just in case the Ferbane calling came even though I'd made peace that it wasn't going to come. I was happy with that. The only thing was, I couldn't stand still and not get involved in other clubs and expect to take Ferbane.

“It was just about staying ready and hopefully being the best asset to Ferbane when I got to come back as senior manager.

“It's a great privilege, honour, whatever way you want to put it because it's absolutely fantastic when you're asked to look after your own lads. It's been an enjoyable year up to this point, it's something I'll always treasure regardless from here on in.”

Digan relishes being involved with teams. Information can always be gleaned. “You learn something new everywhere you go,” he says.

“You see the way other clubs operate. Some clubs I was with, what they're really good at, maybe Ferbane aren't as brilliant at, but what Ferbane are brilliant at, they need to get to that level. It would give you a fresh perspective and a different way of thinking about stuff.

“When I came back, I was looking at things a little bit differently. I got experience away from the lads. I just really appreciated coming back to Ferbane because it's a senior club immersed in really good history.

“It's a senior club that has won senior titles back in the day with the five in a row. Ferbane are the last Offaly club to win a Leinster 40 years ago this year, it's stacked full of history, so I'm really glad to be back.”

Digan appreciates the nuances of the different roles in a managerial set-up. “With Ferbane, I do a little bit of coaching, but I'm really the manager,” he explains.

“We're all local lads. I've a couple of really good coaches. Colin Kenny, he has been there for the last couple of years, he was a phenomenal player himself. Unfortunately, he had health issues and couldn't play anymore, I'd have had him at underage. He has been with the boys.

“We've Paddy Moore, one of our own. They're the two main coaches. I've two really good selectors, Colin's Dad, Mick, he gives us a different insight. Michael Corrigan is living in Ferbane longer than he lived in Meath at this stage. We're all locals. I've the manager role, it's very different after doing two years in Sallins as coach under Johnny Daniels. It's different being a manager. As coach, it's a great role.

“You only really talk to the manager unless he wants you to pull a player aside to talk to them one on one. As manager, it's different. I've taken a step back, observing things. If I'm not happy with something on the field I'll step in or across, but the boys usually have it well nailed on.

“I don't like saying just manager because manager isn't the 10 or 12 hours down at the pitch, it's the 60 hours you spend on the phone and thinking about it.”

On the spins from Tallaght, Digan talks football with his Ferbane colleagues. “Lads get used to you ringing at a certain time of the day,” he laughs.

“They know this lad is in the car trying to kill time. So, you've your set routines. I'd always ring Paddy and Colin on the way down. I'd get my phone calls in. I'm coming from Tallaght. On a good day, it's about an hour and a half down. If you don't get out before the traffic, you could be in the car for two and a half hours. It's a really good time to plan your calls. It does have its advantages.

“It's nice to get down to Ferbane. We're up in Dublin for now, we don't know where we will end up, but Ferbane is always home. It's nice to get home to see the parents and the siblings, just friends and stuff.

“If you're away and involved with another team, you'd be just popping down to see the odd Ferbane match. It's not the same.”

Tullamore versus Ferbane is a familiar pairing in an Offaly decider. A fourth final in a row beckons with Tullamore victorious in the previous three. “It's always where you lose the year before that you want to get back to,” Digan says.

“I think that's the big thing. It takes 12 months to get back there. Getting back to the county final was the objective, making it a two-horse race.

“Obviously, it's Tullamore again, that's great, the last three finals have been against them. In fairness to them, they're a super team, they came out on top in the three of them.

“To get back there, to get the chance to hopefully come out on the right side of the result, that would just be the perfect ending, if we could do it that way.”

Even though the recent final losses have brought pain, in an overall context, Ferbane are relevant and respected again. “It's a great time, I remember when I was starting to play myself, the hope then was to stay out of relegation, try to scrape into a quarter-final, to see could we win one,” he says.

“Now, it's really, get out of the group, push on from there. We had a really good batch of lads. For 10 years we were A at every level, we were either winning championships or competing very hard. All those lads are through now, the oldest are probably 32 at this stage, and down to the lads that are about 24, at some stage they'd have won an A Championship.

“It's really helped. That was our 11th semi-final in a row the other day, maybe 20 years ago we would only dream about winning a semi-final.Obviously, we've a very good history with the five-in-a-row back in the 80s, but to get back to semi-finals - 11 in-a-row, and four county finals in a row is really good. That's to be enjoyed.”

Ultimately, it’s what Digan relishes. Time will always be made for Gaelic Football. “I've been involved since 2011, I took an U16 team then,” he reflects.

“Some of them are on the panel now, they're 31. It's been a long time. Every year since then, I've taken a team in some capacity from underage right through. I worked with that team all the way through up to U21, we won an U21 after 23 years of not winning an U21.

“Then, I just stayed on with the U20s for the last few years, we'd good success, and in the last few years Tullamore came strong in that. We've lost the last two U20 finals which we've been very unlucky in.”

Helping the next generation is the aim. “It's great for the youngsters to see what the lads are doing to achieve this,” he says.

“With the hurling too, we're such a big dual team, we've 10 starters between Ferbane and Belmont, who're pushing very hard to try to break through the ceiling there. It's great to see.

“Maybe we don't have that sustained thing we had of getting to A Finals and winning championships, but it's about being consistent, trying to get two or three young lads from every group.”

Providing opportunities for players to flourish. The imminent Tullamore test will undoubtedly be daunting. For Digan, there is joy in the journey home.