MARCH 3RD, '79: RING. HIS very name was something different: it was the sound of music, a chiming of bells – a word which, by sheer chance , caught something of the uncountable qualities that made him the greatest hurling player that ever lived.
His death came so suddenly that the shock leaves one almost incapable of writing about this unique sportsman, whose talent in his chosen game was so enormous that one wonders if any other, in any sport, can be compared with him and his extraordinary achievements.
In a moment of emotion brought about by the death of a great personage, be he or she of sport, the arts, politics or any other walk of life, it is easy to lavish praise, to eulogise out of sentiment, even to exaggerate the qualities of the person whose death is mourned.
There are no words I know of that can adequately do justice to the greatness of the hurler Christy Ring.
If hurling were an international sport his name and fame would stand at least alongside the reputations of Pele in soccer, Bradman in cricket, Edwards and Kyle in rugby, Nicklaus and Palmer in golf.
But there is no method of measuring genius, man for man, in the various sports.
All one can say is that Ring was a genius in his own sport. And his genius in hurling was incomparable.
Christy Ring was my friend for 30 years-but that is another story for another day. Just now it is almost impossible to select one year, one game, even one moment in a game, where one begins to remember.
His whole career in hurling was one wonderful, memorable flash of beauty and delight – even though that career spanned three decades, from the late 1930s, when he played as a minor for Cork, until he finally retired from the Glen Rovers team in 1967.
He set a record when he won his eighth All-Ireland medal, captaining Cork, against Wexford, in the All-Ireland final of 1954.
He played with Munster on 18 victorious Railway Cup teams.
But these are only statistics. Ring would be remembered if he had never won anything; his enormous, incomparable skill in that game which is acknowledged to be one of the most skilful of all field sports, must stand as his monument.
