Rebel Rena – the most decorated star in Gaelic games’ history
AS LONG as hurling is played, the story of Christy Ring will be told. And that will be forever.’ So said Jack Lynch, who was Taoiseach at the time, at the funeral of the Cork legend. Ring passed away almost 30 years ago, but he still spoken of with such reverence, befitting a figure that changed the way his sport is viewed. Ring has the same status within hurling as Pele has in soccer, Michael Jordan in basketball or Tiger Woods in golf. He remains the yardstick by which all the game’s greats are judged. No player in the history of the Association has cast a longer shadow over their sport. Even when Kilkenny’s Henry Shefflin was on the journey that would eventually see him win 10 All-Ireland medals, there were still plenty who would argue that he was no Ring. That’s the way all good hurlers have been judged.
Shefflin was the living embodiment of Kilkenny’s dominance under Brian Cody. He was also a rare talent. Master of all the skills of the game and blessed with speed and stamina, it was his remarkable iron will and refusal to lose, exemplified by his heroic display in the drawn 2012 All-Ireland final against Galway, that marked him out from the rest of his contemporaries.
Cody has already gone down as the greatest manager in GAA history, a title that he is unlikely to relinquish. In an extraordinary tenure, he has changed the entire complexion of the sport, collecting 11 All-Ireland titles along the way.
He has followed the tradition of Gowran man Fr Tommy Maher who instilled in Kilkenny the values and virtues that would make them the most successful county in hurling. Maher believed that hurlers should master the basics of the game, and learn how to use space on the field. His philosophy informed the coaching courses in Gormanston in the 1960s and one of his disciples, Diarmuid Healy, would be the man who led Offaly out of the wilderness in 1981.
Maher’s influence is still being felt, as Cody’s is likely to be for a long time.
Some of the most significant figures in the game’s history have been those who have broken down barriers and dragged their county out of a spiral of defeats and a grim acceptance that All-Ireland titles are not meant for them.
In that regard, Ger Loughnane and Cyril Farrell are similar. Loughnane may be the more contentious figure – he confidently predicted live on television at half-time in 1995 All-Ireland final that his team would win – but they both changed the mindset of their respective counties.
It was all too easy for Clare to blame a long barren spell, that dated back to 1914, on Biddy Earley and think they were never going to get to the top of the mountain again. But Loughnane made leaders of his men by driving them up mountains in the winter, ensuring they moved mountains by the time they got to Croke Park in 1995.
Galway had lost two All-Irelands in the previous five years before they eventually won it in 1980. Joe Connolly and Joe McDonagh are eternally associated with that success for their speech and song, but it was Farrell who gave the players the belief to finally claim the big prize.
Before Loughnane, Farrell and Cody, there was Jim ‘Tough’ Barry, who trained the team that contained Ring. Barry was a tailor by profession who came from an amateur boxing background. But in the 12 Cork teams he led to the biggest prize of all, he was renowned for having them in prime condition for All-Ireland final day. While those on the sideline are enshrined in the folklore of the game, it is still on the field that we search for our modernday Cuchulainn. Ring, Shefflin or Mick Mackey, who invented the solo run by just putting the ball on the end of his hurl one day and taking flight with it.
Mackey is often mentioned in the same breath as Ring and there was also Nicky Rackard, the man who ensured the Cork legend didn’t have a happy ending in his last All-Ireland final of 1956. There was the likes of John Doyle, who spent a long time trying to quell the influence of Ring.
As Jack Lynch said, people will always talk of Ring. It is why, even now, he remains the most important figure in the game.
TEN MOST IMPORTANT FIGURES IN HURLING HISTORY 1
CHRISTY RING More than 60 years since Wexford’s Bobby Rackard and Nick O’Donnell chaired Ring off the field in what was his last All-Ireland final, he remains the yardstick by which greatness in hurling is measured. In a 23-year Cork career, he scored 33-208 in 65 Championship appearances, winning eight All-Irelands and four National Leagues.
2
BRIAN CODY The story goes that when Ger Loughnane heard that Cody had been appointed to the Kilkenny helm, he said ‘we are all in trouble now’. Almost 20 years later, it was clear why Loughnane was worried as Cody constructed the most dominant force in hurling history.
3
HENRY SHEFFLIN The embodiment of the Cody era. Ten All-Irelands, nine All-Star awards, Hurler of the Year a couple of times, ‘King Henry’ usually saved his best performances for the biggest days.
4
MICK MACKEY As Liam MacCarthy returned to the banks of the Shannon this summer, there was plenty of reflection on Limerick’s greatest, the man who created the solo run and inspired three All-Ireland successes.
5
FR TOMMY MAHER He took over as Kilkenny coach in 1957, when the county were going through a relative famine. They would then win seven in the next 21 years. He also schooled an entire generation of hurling with his coaching in the 1960s.
6
GER LOUGHNANE He was called the most electrifying figure in hurling since Ring – and during the 1990s, he probably was. He ended one of the greatest famines in the GAA, ridding Clare of Biddy Earley’s curse and galvanising a county behind him, while rubbing much of the rest of the country up the wrong way.
7
NICKY RACKARD The most famous the Rackard brothers. He hauled Wexford to an All-Ireland title in 1956, even outshining Christy Ring in the final. Remains the top goal-scorer in Championship history.
8
JIM BARRY Trained 12 Cork teams to All-Ireland titles. And he also trained the Limerick side in 1934.
9
CYRIL FARRELL At just 30 years of age in 1980, Farrell led Galway hurlers out of the wilderness and to their first All-Ireland title in 57 years.
10
JOHN DOYLE Revered in Tipperary as the greatest defender to play the game, he won eight All-Ireland medals and 10 National Leagues.
The Hall of Fame is one of the most popular exhibitions in the GAA Museum and includes jerseys, medals and other memorabilia. Christy Ring’s vast medal collection is one of the main attractions and must be seen by all.