Rita Lowry, former Tipp camogie player and star of iconic Christy Ring photo, dies aged 99

Rita Lowry played in the 1952 Munster camogie final and made a big impression after the Munster hurling final. 

Rita Lowry at her home in 2016 with the famous photograph.

Rita Lowry, widely known as the 'blood and bandage lady', who featured in an iconic 1952 photograph of Christy Ring, has died aged 99.

Mrs Lowry, née Fenton, was born in Ballygarvan, Cork in 1927, one of nine children.

She played camogie with Ballygarvan in her youth and was a devoted follower of the Cork hurlers, before moving to Tipperary town to work in the post office in 1948.

There she joined the Seán Treacy camogie club and went on to play for Tipperary. She featured on the Tipperary team beaten by Cork in the 1952 Munster camogie final at the Cork Athletic Grounds.

She also made an impression after the Munster hurling final in Limerick's Gaelic Grounds that year, starring with a bloodied and bandaged Christy Ring in an iconic photograph that featured in what was then the Cork Examiner. The picture is displayed in Páirc Uí Rinn, the Cork GAA stadium named in Ring's honour.

Ring had been instrumental in Cork's 1-11 to 2-6 win, ending Tipperary's four-in-a-row hopes and paving the way for Cork's three in a row of Munster and All-Ireland titles. 

In a 2016 interview with the Irish Examiner, Mrs Lowry recalled how she had been attempting to get a photo with Christy on her Kodak box camera. She revealed how she had been good friends with Ring, who wrote to her and sent Christmas cards for many years afterwards. 

Her efforts in capturing Ring after his final heroics remained the habit of a lifetime. Mrs Lowry was a keen collector of GAA photos and news clippings throughout her life. She kept a scrapbook tracking Ring's exploits, though living in Tipperary her loyalties gradually became divided, even ranking Jimmy Doyle up there with Ring. 

Christy Ring pictured after the Cork v. Tipperary Munster Hurling Final at Limerick in 1952. Irish Examiner Archives

Mrs Lowry is predeceased by her husband John and will be sadly missed by daughters Catherine, Mary, Ann and Imelda, and sons Jimmy and Johnny, as well as many grandchildren and other family and friends.

She is reposing at Fogarty’s Funeral Home, Blind Street, Tipperary Town on Friday from 5.30pm, removal at 7.30pm to St Michael's Church, Tipperary. Requiem Mass Saturday at 10.15am.