Long-serving midfielder George Hannigan has announced his retirement from inter-county football

Today, George Hannigan has announced his retirement from inter-county football.

The extremely popular Hannigan made his senior championship debut against Kerry in 2006 and was a permanent fixture in midfield for the Premier ever since and played his last game in June, coming on as a second-half substitute in the qualifier loss to Mayo, in Semple Stadium. He amassed a fantastic 36 senior championship appearances for Tipperary, scoring 0-13 in  the process.

In that time he won three Allianz National Football League medals in 2009 (division 3), 2014 (division 4) and 2017 (division 3) and while he was unfortunate not to win a senior championship medal, his dominating midfield performances won him the respect of many players and critics up and down the country.

In 2005 he was a member of the under-17 Irish Compromise Rules team that defeated Australia to claim the series and also captained the county minor side that same year. He won a Trench Cup medal with Mary Immaculate College in 2008 and played a key role in Thomas MacDonagh’s historic county senior championship win in 2011 and also won divisional honours with them in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. He has also captured junior football and intermediate hurling honours with his club Shannon Rovers. An accomplished hurler, he played wing-back on the St Flannan’s Harty Cup winning side in 2005.

Perhaps his best year for Tipperary was in 2016 when he played a crucial role in the county’s march to the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time since 1935 when the Premier memorably defeated Cork, Derry and Galway before being unfortunate to see their brave efforts against Mayo in the semi-final fall just short.

George will continue to play for his club Shannon Rovers and we have no doubt that he will continue to play a major role in Tipperary football going forward.

Thanks for all the fantastic memories George.