Christy Ring - Retirement

Retirement

In retirement from playing the game that he loved Ring quickly became a selector with various teams at all levels. In 1963 he was a mentor to the senior hurling team of St Finbarr's College, Farranferris that captured both Munster and All-Ireland honours at colleges level.

Ring later served as a key member of the selection teams when his beloved Glen Rovers won county, Munster and All-Ireland club hurling honours in the 1970s.

In 1974 Ring became a selector with the Cork senior hurling team, however, it was an unsuccessful year in the championship for his county. He was dropped from the selection team in 1975, however, Ring returned as an influential selector under Bertie Troy in 1976. That year Cork captured the Munster title before later lining out against Wexford in the All-Ireland final. After six minutes of play Cork were in arrears by 2-2 to no score, however, Ring's switch of Jimmy Barry-Murphy to centre-forward was pivotal in helping Cork to turn the game around and win it by 2-21 to 4-11. In 1977 a second set of Munster and All-Ireland titles followed for Ring as selector again. 1978 was a particularly poignant year for Ring and the Cork hurling team. Cork annexed a third Munster title under Ring's stewardship that year before later lining out against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. Once again Ring made some decisive positional switches involving Barry-Murphy and Tim Crowley, which eventually led to a 1-15 to 2-8 victory over the old enemy. It was a particularly sweet victory for Ring. It had been forty years since he captured his first All-Ireland medal with Cork in 1938. He was a stylish young hurler on the senior team when Cork captured the three-in-a-row in 1943 and he was a legendary figure on the team when he repeated this feat in 1954. Now Ring had also become an All-Ireland three-in-a-row winning selector with Cork. The 1978 All-Ireland triumph over Kilkenny turned out to be Ring’s last visit to Croke Park.