The pursuit of simple pleasures and no little skill saw the team from The Sweep Inn, Kilmeaden crowned Waterford Rings League winners in 1965.

The above photograph shows the ringleaders, namely, from left: Maxi Carberry, Loughdaheen; John Joe (Chops) Power, Adamstown; Mayor of Waterford, Colr. Patrick “Fad” Browne, who made the presentations; publican Tommy Hayes, The Sweep; Peter Kiely, Adamstown; and Michael O’Keeffe, Lisnakill.

The Kilmeaden quartet were 2-0 winners against Garveys (comprising Jim Keane, Joe Blay, Noel Cronin and Joe Carroll) in the final in Norris’s Bar to take the brewery-sponsored Murphy Cup.

The local Rings League was a serious competition in those days, with pub teams from the likes of Tramore, Carrolls Cross, Newtown, Butlerstown, Kill and Kilmeaden among the perennial contenders from the county establishments.

This rudimentary but deceptively difficult game involved throwing rubber rings at a board from a set distance (called the oche, as in darts), with small hooks positioned at each number, from 1-13. You had to hang your ring on the hook to make it count.

As with any sport, it was a case of practice making perfect and many households had ring boards back then. A social pastime, it was regarded as an ideal wintertime game, blending accuracy with comradery. Its origins are said to date back to Famine times and its virtues were exported and extolled overseas by Irish emigrants.

Watched by a capacity crowd, that year’s Waterford pubs final, held on the first Friday in February, was a see-saw affair, with The Sweep twice coming from behind to snatch both games.

According to the Waterford News & Star’s correspondent “Ringo”, in 19-year-old over-arm pitcher Micky O’Keeffe the winners had “the best player of the night”; whose high scores (including a match-high 55, greeted by “a great ovation” from the country contingent) had a big say in the outcome.

However, “John Joe Power proved The Sweep’s matchwinner”, expertly picking his shots and hanging major numbers at crucial times to turn the tide in The Sweep’s favour. The “veteran” captain Kiely “held his end up with some grand efforts”, and Carberry was “a model of consistency” throughout.

The guest of honour, Kilmeaden-born Councillor Browne, said it was a pleasure to see a team from his “home parish” take the spoils, even if his own bar on Barrack Street was among the recognised rings strongholds in the city.