Career
He played hurling with his local club Saint Rynagh"s and with the Offaly senior inter-county team from 1990 until 2002. Club
Rigney played his club hurling with the Saint Rynagh"s club in Banagher. Inter-county
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.
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 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 winning the game by 6 points. 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.
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.
lieutenant 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, with Galway"s Michael Bond now in charge.
The first game ended in a draw and had to be replayed. However, the replay was ended minutes early because of a timekeeping 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. Offaly reversed the Leinster final defeat by winning the All-Ireland final by 6 points in a game which saw Brian Whelahan play at full-forward.
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 manager Pat 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 Saint Rynagh"s or for Offaly.
lieutenant 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. Hubert is chairman of the Offaly branch of the "Collins 22 Society", which pays tribute to Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins.
