- Hubert Rigney
Infobox GAA player
code= Hurling
sport = Hurling
name = Hubert Rigney
irish = Aodh Ó Roigne
fullname = Hubert Rigney
placeofbirth =Banagher
countryofbirth =County Offaly
dob =
height =
nickname =
county = Offaly
province = Leinster
club = St. Rynagh's
clposition = Centre-back
clubs =
clyears =
clapps(points) =
clcounty =
clprovince=
clallireland =
counties = Offaly
icposition = Centre-back
icyears = 1990-2002
icapps(points) =
icprovince = 2
icallireland = 2
nhl = 1
allstars = 1
clupdate =
icupdate = Hubert Rigney (born 1971 inBanagher ,County Offaly ) is a retired Irish sportsperson. He playedhurling with his local club St. Rynagh's and with the Offaly senior inter-county team from 1990 until 2002.Playing career
Club
Rigney played his club
hurling with the famous St. Rynagh's club inBanagher . He started playinghurling at the age of 11 and won his first medal at the age of 13 when his side defeated Portumna inGalway . As a member of the senior team Rigney captured three county titles in 1990, 1992 and 1993. This final win was later converted into a Leinster club title.Inter-county
Rigney first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Offaly minor hurling team in the late 1980s. He won a Leinster title in this grade in 1989 before later capturing an All-Ireland title following a victory over Clare. Rigney later joined the Offaly under-21 team where he captured a Leinster title in 1991. He added a second Leinster under-21 medal to his collection in 1993, however, he never collected an All-Ireland medal in this grade.
Rigney became a member of the Offaly senior panel in 1990. In the spring of 1991 he captured a
National Hurling League title, Offaly's first, and the future was looking brighter for the midlands team. Three years later in 1994 Rigney was a key memnber of the Offaly team as he first Leinster title. Offaly later progressed to the All-Ireland final where they played Limerick. With four minutes to go Offaly were trailing by five points, however, a scoring spree in the remaining time resulted in the side actually winning the game by 6 points. Offaly managerÉamonn Cregan had orchestrated a great win over has native county and Rigney collected his first All-Ireland medal.In 1995 Rigney captured a second Leinster medal. The game itself against Kilkenny was regarded as the best game of the year and is regarded as one of the greatest games of all-time by some for the sheer level of skill displayed by both teams. Rigney's side later went on to lose the All-Ireland final to Clare, who won their first All-Ireland title since 1914. 1998 proved to be a controversial year for Offaly. Rigney's side reached the Leinster final but lost to Kilkenny. This defeat prompted their manager,
Babs Keating , to describe the Offaly hurlers as "sheep in a heap", and he promptly resigned. It looked as if Offaly’s championship hopes were in disarray, however, they overcame Antrim in the All-Ireland quarter-final and qualified to meet Clare in the semi-final. The first game ended in a draw and had to be replayed, however, the replay was ended early because of a time-keeping error by the referee. Following a protest on the pitch ofCroke Park by the Offaly supporters it was decided that Clare and Offaly would meet for a third time. Hanamy's side won the third game and qualified to play Kilkenny in the final. Offaly reversed the Leinster final defeat by winning the All-Ireland final by 6 points. Rigney had won his second All-Ireland medal. In 1999 Offaly once again reached the latter stages of the All-Ireland championship, however, they were beaten by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. 2000 proved to be another controversial year. Team managerPat Fleury surprisingly omitted Rigney from the squad that was due to play Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. Offaly lost that game and Rigney later declared that he no longer wanted to play for his club St. Rynagh's or for Offaly. It was a withdrawal from hurling in protest. He was later coaxed back to the county team in 2001 and continued to play until his retirement in 2002.Teams
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.