Christy Ring is to hurling what Ali is to boxing, Jessie Owens is to athletics, or Pele is to soccer. As close to a definition of perfection as his sport ever came. The records he set during an amazing intercounty career which spanned over two decades still stand to this day - eight All-Ireland winners' medals (equalled only by Tipperary's John Doyle) and 18 Railway Cup winners medals with a scoring record of 42 goals and 105 points from his 44 appearances in the interprovincial competition.

Yet bald statistics go nowhere near to providing an explanation of the phenomenon that was "Ringey". His appeal to crowds was magnetic, in Cork he was the figurehead of a worshipful cult. His name on a teamsheet was enough to guarantee a full house and the battles for supremacy between Cork and Tipperary of the 50s in which he played so prominent a role have long passed into legend.

His opponents spoke of him as being completely unpredictable, with no set pattern to his game and no way of anticipating what he would do next.

Allied to this was a raw hunger to win and a lifelong obsession with hurling. When asked what stood him apart from other hurlers, Ring once reflected, with massive understatement, that he "had a great determination when going for the ball." More accurately, brick walls would have been but a trifling obstacle between Ring and the goalmouth.

His first All-Ireland success was in 1941, the first of Cork's four-in-a-row. He captained the county on three successful campaigns in 1946, '53 and '54. Much of Cork's success in that era is directly credited to Ring and the inspirational effects he had on his teammates. The battles for supremacy in Munster against Tipperary generally brought out the best in his combative nature; during the 50s the pair shared six All-Ireland's between them and their near-annual meetings in Limerick for the Munster final are regarded as among the greatest games ever played.

Ring played on for Cork until 1962. A year later, the Cork selectors voted 3-2 not to select him, but amazingly, at the age of 46, he was called back onto the panel and selected as a sub, 33-year-old John Bennett being preferred.

"The people of Cork will never see the day when Christy Ring is a sub on a Cork team to John Bennett," he declared haughtily when withdrawing his services; as ever, second-best to nobody.

After retiring from his playing career, Ring was a selector on the Cork side which won three successive All-Irelands from 1976-78. He died prematurely at the age of 58 in March 1979.

from the Appletree Press title Gaelic Games by Ian Prior