Martin Hanamy

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Martin Hanamy (born 1967) is a former Irish sportsperson who played hurling with Offaly in the 1980s and 1990s.

Martin Hanamy was born in Cloghan, County Offaly in 1967. He was born into a family where hurling was not one of the major topics of discussion. His father had been a Gaelic footballer with St. Brigid's but he never hurled much. Hanamy was noted as a good hurler and he was given every encouragement in a county that had had no hurling success. He was a late starter to the game and he didn't play competitive hurling until he was twelve years-old. By the early 1980s Hanamy was on the way to becoming an accomplished hurler, now playing regularly in underage competitions for his club St. Rynagh's. He 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. Two years later in 1991 Hanamy captured a National Hurling League title and the future was looking brighter. 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 the best game of the year and is regarded as one of the greatest games of all-time 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 and 2000 Offaly once again reached the latter stages of the All-Ireland championship, however, they were beaten by Cork and KIlkenny on both occasions. Hanamy retired from inter-county hurling following the All-Ireland final in 2000

Preceded by Eddie O'Connor (Kilkenny)

All-Ireland Hurling Final winning captain 1994

Succeeded by Anthony Daly (Clare)

	Offaly - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1994 (3rd title)
1 J. Troy | 2 S. McGuckin | 3 K. Kinihan | 4 M. Hanamy (Capt.) | 5 B. Whelahan | 6 H. Rigney | 7 K. Martin | 8 J. Pilkington | 9 D. Regan | 10 J. Dooley | 11 J. Troy | 12 J. Dooley | 13 B. Dooley | 14 B. Kelly | 15 D. Pilkington | Subs: J. Errity | P. O'Connor | Manager: É. Cregan |

	Offaly - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1998 (4th title)
1 S. Byrne | 2 S. Whelahan | 3 K. Kinihan | 4 M. Hanamy | 5 B. Whelahan | 6 H. Rigney (Capt.) | 7 K. Martin | 8 J. Pilkington | 9 J. Dooley | 10 M. Duignan | 11 J. Troy | 12 G. Hanniffy | 13 B. Dooley | 14 J. Errity | 15 J. Dooley | Subs: P. Mulhaire | D. Hanniffy | J. Ryan | Manager: M. Bond |