Putting lads in their place: Christy Ring's greatest one-liners and controversies

The famous Mackey vs Ring photograph taken at the 1957 Munster final by Justin Nelson. Mick Mackey, an umpire for the game, allowed a Tipperary goal which the referee over-ruled. Christy Ring, leaving the pitch injured, has words with Mackey. 

The greatest was often the quickest, particularly with a one-liner

During a game one opponent thundered at Ring: “I’ll open you the next time the ball comes in.”

“If you’re still here,” said Ring.

In the 1956 Munster final Ring was being held scoreless by Limerick and a foolhardy opponent said he was very quiet. Five minutes and three goals later and Ring responded: “It’s not so quiet now, boy.”

A shortsighted player?

“Next he’ll be listening for the ball.”

Where did he aim his close-in frees? “At the funkiest player on the line.”

When Seanie O’Leary broke his nose in the warm-up before the 1977 All-Ireland final?

Get out there O’Leary, you don’t play hurling with your nose.”

In a career that touched four different decades, Ring was involved in plenty of controversies that couldn’t be resolved with a putdown. Even the beginning of his career in the red and white of Cork had a whiff of contention about it.

Tim Horgan’s magisterial biography of Ring recalls that when the 1937 Cork minor team was named at a Cork County Board meeting before the All-Ireland final, Midleton delegate Tom Powell was vocal in his protests. “Mr. Chairman, why is Christy Ring only a sub? Christy is one of the best minor hurlers in the county. He should be on the team, not a sub.”

Jim Hurley was at the meeting: “He (Powell) was quickly silenced by the big guns at the head of the table but as he sat down I could hear his last remark - ‘Time will prove me right’.”

Twelve months later Ring was a key man in the minors’ 1938 All-Ireland win, and more than one observer felt he could have made the difference, young as he was, if Cork had tried him in the All-Ireland final which they lost to Kilkenny.

Over two decades later, Ring was named in several media reports as the man who struck Tipperary player Tom Moloughney in the 1961 Munster hurling final. Moloughney - who speaks to Donal O’Grady about the incident in this magazine - was struck in a brawl during the game, but not by Ring. A tense stand-off between various media outlets and the Cork County Board only eased when a public apology was issued.

Eight years earlier there was a more serious incident. Following a tough win over Galway in the 1953 All-Ireland final, Ring was attacked not once but twice in the team hotel.

Tim Horgan’s biography details how, after the post-match meal ended, the Cloyne man was called to the foyer on a pretext and struck as he came up the stairs. The following morning a Galway player struck Ring as he ate his breakfast.

Nowadays that would provide talking points across all platforms for weeks, but interestingly, Ring’s teammates had a more laid-back view of events.

“I saw these Galway lads come in,” recalled full-back John Lyons decades later. “There was a bit of a fight but it wasn’t as bad as it was made out.”) I was slow getting up,” said Willie John Daly. “And they were after coming down that time and had a bit of a row. There was a lot of talk about that after, but what about it?”

A last word to the maestro himself? “My hurling days are over. Let no one say the best hurlers belong to the past. They are with us now and better yet to come.”

- You can purchase the Irish Examiner's 20-page special publication to mark the centenary of Christy Ring's birth with your Friday edition of the Irish Examiner in stores or from our epaper site.