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| Born | 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | September 2006 (aged 84) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Gaelic football | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Half back | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Simon Deignan (1922 – September 2006) was a former Gaelic footballer for the Cavan county team, and a referee.
Deignan was born in 1922 in Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland.
His grandnephew is the Dublin footballer Jonny Cooper.
A native of Mullagh. Deignan won an All-Ireland Minor Football Championship medal in 1938. He formed a brilliant half back partnership with P. J. Duke & J. J. O'Reilly that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in the Polo Grounds, New York in 1947. He was again one of the Breffni county’s stars in the ’48 All-Ireland Final double success. He also won the National Football League in 1949/50 season. He won numerous Railway Cup medals with Ulster.
He was also a noted referee, officiating at the 1950, 1954 and 1958 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals.[citation needed]
He died in September 2006 in Bon Secours Hospital, Glasnevin, aged 84. His funeral took place from the Church of Our Mother of Divine Grace, Ballygall Road East to Dardistown cemetery.
[Cooper]'s mother's father was a founding member of Na Fianna in 1955 and Cooper's granduncle, Simon Deignan, played for Cavan in the Polo Grounds."Learning life the hard way" was the title in the print edition.