Thomas O. Ring (1939 – 1 July 2020) was an Irish hurler. At club level he played for a number of clubs, including

Castlepollard Castlepollard ( or ''Cionn Toirc'') is a village in north County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland. It lies west of Lough Lene and northeast of Lough Derravaragh and Mullingar. Name The name ''Castlepollard'' comes from the name of a castle or fo ...

and

Kilmacud Crokes Kilmacud Crokes ( ir, Cill Mochuda Na Crócaigh) is a large Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Stillorgan, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Background Kilmacud GAA club was formed in 1959 following a historic public meeting in Saint ...

, and was a long-time member of the Westmeath senior hurling team.

Playing career

Born in

, Ring was the son of a

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

-born father and a

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

-born mother and first played hurling when he joined the local

club. He earned a call-up to the Westmeath minor team in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, before later moving to Cork and lining out with the

Meelin Meelin () is a village in northern County Cork, barony of Duhallow, Ireland. The village is near the border with County Limerick and County Kerry. Meelin is within the Cork North-West (Dáil constituency). At above sea level, Meelin is the hi ...

club as a junior. On his return to Castlepollard, Ring won a county minor medal in 1956 and was promoted to the Westmeath senior team as goalkeeper at 18 years of age, a position he retained on and off for a further seven years. After winning a National League Division 2 in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, he ended the year by captaining Castlepollard to a county senior championship. Work brought Ring to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, where he hurled for New Irelands for three years before later joining the

club. By this stage he had switched from goalkeeper to midfielder and forward with the Westmeath senior team and claimed a second Division 2 title in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

before becoming one of the top marksmen of the 1960s and early 1970s. After his inter-county career ended in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, Ring continued to line out with Kilmacud Crokes and won county senior championship medals in 1974 and 1976. In retirement he came to be regarded as one of Westmeath's greatest-ever hurlers and was selected in the right wing-forward position on the Westmeath Hurling Team of the Millennium.

Personal life

Ring died in Rathcoole,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

on 1 July 2020. He was survived by his wife Therese and six children. His son, Connie Ring, lined out with the Craobh Chiaráin club and was a member of the

Dublin senior hurling team The Dublin county hurling team represents Dublin in hurling and is governed by Dublin GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Hurling ...

Honours

;Castlepollard *

Westmeath Senior Hurling Championship The Westmeath Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Slevin Coaches Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Westmeath SHC) is an annual hurling competition organized by the Westmeath County Board of the Gaelic ...

(1): 1961 (c) ;Kilmacud Crokes *

Dublin Senior Hurling Championship The Dublin Senior Hurling Championship ( ga, Craobh Sinsear Iomána Átha Cliath) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Dublin GAA, Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA) since 1887 f ...

(2): 1974, 1976 ;Westmeath * National Hurling League (Division 2) (2): 1960-61, 1963-64 ;Leinster *

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

(1):

;Awards *Westmeath Hurling Team of the Millennium: Right wing-forward

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ring, Tommy 1939 births 2020 deaths Meelin hurlers Kilmacud Crokes hurlers Westmeath inter-county hurlers Leinster inter-provincial hurlers People from Castlepollard