Early years Nicholas Christopher Michael Ring was the second youngest son of Nicholas (7 December 1892 - 12 March 1937) and Mary (née Lawton) Ring (1 November 1889 - 8 August 1953), and was born on 30 October 1920 at Kilboy Cross, less than a mile from the small village of Cloyne in rural East Cork. He had two brothers, Willie John and Paddy Joe, and two sisters — Katie and Mary Agnes. His family later moved to Cloyne where they occupied a house on Spittal Street, commonly referred to as Spit Lane. His father worked as a gardener for local landowners and, as a former Cloyne hurler, he instilled a passion for the game in his young son by taking him to club games in Cork, making the eighteen-mile journey by bicycle with his son on the cross-bar. Ring was educated at the local national school in Cloyne, where he was noted as a quiet but diligent pupil. On one occasion, the school master, Maurice Spillane, offered a prize of a hurley and sliotar to the boy who would get the highest grade in the school. Ring applied himself diligently and got first place from among forty-eight pupils. As was common at the time Ring received no secondary education and left school before the age of fourteen. His first job was as an apprentice mechanic with the Williams firm in Midleton, before he later moved to Cork city where he found work as a lorry driver with Córas Iompair Éireann. In 1953 Ring became a delivery driver with Shell Oil. Club career St. Enda's Ring was just twelve years-old when he played in his first minor game for Cloyne. Playing in goal he received a baptism of fire against Sarsfields. Two years later he was at right wing-forward and claimed his first medal when Cloyne won the annual Glenbower tournament. As Cloyne were unable to field a minor team by the end of the decade, Ring joined the St. Enda's amalgamation from Midleton in 1938. He won a county minor championship medal in this grade in 1938 following a 5–3 to 4–0 win over the Seán Clárach's club from Charleville. Cloyne Ring's impressive form with St. Enda's was replicated with the Cloyne junior team that reached their first East Cork final. The Ring brothers were prominent from the start, with Willie John scoring 1-1 to help secure a 5-5