pass]. You won no less than eight All-Ireland medals". "You don't play hurling with your nose." Ring's reply to Seánie O'Leary who feared he may miss the All-Ireland final after breaking his nose when a sliotar struck him during the warm-up prior to the 1977 All-Ireland final. "The contest was the most important thing for me. Playing the game was the most important thing as far as I was concerned. It wasn't what I got from it or what was at the end...but to play hurling for Cork...that was the most important thing." "The Glen has meant a lot to me. I don't know how you describe the spirit of the Glen, no more than describe the spirit of "the Barr's", or "the Rockies"...or the spirit of Cloyne...I don't know...it's just that they have this tradition of playing the game as it should be played; hard and tough." "You should have somebody else here today instead of me. It's about time they stopped talking about me." Ring in a rare television interview with Donncha Ó Dúlaing shortly before his death in 1979. Tributes "'Tis a sin to bury that man." Unknown woman overheard by Professor Seán Ó Tuama at the removal of Ring. "'I have seen them all and he is the greatest hurler ever. Ring is a natural. A pocket Hercules, beautifully built with a powerful frame." Pioneering Gaelic games journalist P.D. Mehigan whose recall of games spanned nearly seventy years. "'I was twenty years of age in 1922 when I saw my first senior match. I have seen every great hurler since. I have never seen one who attained Christy's standard of excellence and maintained that standard over such a long period of time." Four-time All-Ireland medal winner with Cork Jim Hurley. "'The greatest hurler ever to grace a playing field." One-time All-Ireland medal winner with Waterford Christy Moylan. "'Any of us who saw him play were privileged. We will never see the like of him again. In my book Christy Ring was always number one, and he always will be." Two-time All-Ireland medal winner with Wexford Bobby Rackard. "'[He] enriched the game of hurling more than any other man I knew over forty years. He lived and breathed the very spirit of hurling. He was a giant among giants." Former President of the GAA Pat Fanning. "'To us kids Christy was the ultimate. We all modelled ourselves