Martin Hanamy

Martin Hanamy (born 1966) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a left corner-back for the Offaly senior team.^[1]

Martin made his first appearance for the team during the 1986-87 National League and remained a stalwart of the team until his retirement after the 1999 championship. During that time he won two All-Ireland medals, five Leinster medals, one National League medals and three All-Star awards. In 1994 Hanamy captained the team to the All-Ireland title.

At club level Hanamy is a one-time Leinster medalist with the St. Ryangh's club. In addition to this he has also won four county club championship medals.

Playing career

Club

After enjoying some success in the various juvenile grades, Hanamy made the St. Ryangh's senior team by the mid-1980s.^[2] He won his first county club championship title in 1987 following a defeat of Seir Kieran.

In 1990 Hanamy was club captain when St. Ryangh's defeated Birr to give him a second county championship medal.

After surrendering the title, St. Ryangh's bounced back in 1992. A defeat of Lusmagh gave Hanamy his third county championship. He picked up a fourth winners' medal in 1993 as St. Rynagh's retained the title after a defeat of Birr. Hanamy later won a Leinster medal after a one-point defeat of Dicksboro.

Inter-county

Hanamy was selected for the Offaly minor and under 21 hurling sides. however, he was unlucky in missing out on a really big prize. In 1986, the Offaly minor hurlers won the All-Ireland title, however, Hanamy was 19 years old and not eligible to play.

Hanamy made his senior hurling debut for Offaly in 1987. From 1988 to 1990 he collected three consecutive Leinster titles, however, Offaly were defeated in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final on all three occasions. In the 1989 All-Ireland semi-final Offaly embarrassingly lost to an unfancied Antrim who were later trounced by Tipperary in the championship decider. Two years later in 1991 Hanamy captured a National Hurling League title, Offaly's first, and the future was looking brighter. Three years later in 1994 Hanamy was captain of Offaly and he won his fourth 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 manager Éamonn Cregan had orchestrated a great win over has native county and Hanamy finally collected his first All-Ireland medal.

In 1995 Hanamy captured another 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. Hanamy'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. Hanamy'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 of Croke 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. Hanamy 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. Hanamy retired from inter-county hurling following this defeat.

External links

• Profile of Martin Hanamy

References

Teams