Roy Keane completes the last 16 line-up in The Echo Rebel Legends

Fri, 19 Feb, 2021 - 08:45

Eamonn Murphy

OVER the coming weeks we need your help to pick your favourite Cork sports person since 1970 in The Echo Rebel Legends competition.

Yesterday Roy Keane made it past Rachel Kohler, in what turned out to be a tight vote, to complete the last 16 line-up.

He joined the other 15 winners to date: Dave Barry, Sonia O'Sullivan, Juliet Murphy, Linda Mellerick, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Derval O'Rourke, Rob Heffernan Rena Buckley, Ronan O'Gara, Sandie Fitzgibbon, Brian Corcoran, Briege Corkery, Denis Irwin, Donal Lenihan and Claire Coughlan.

Claire Coughlan lines up a putt. Picture: SPORTSFILE

The opening match-up of the second round between Dave Barry and Briege Corkery starts on Saturday morning from 8am.

Every time you vote you are entered into a draw for a €200 shopping voucher.

It’s a bit of fun for sports fans, and we have a huge population of those, and a chance for you to express your admiration for the unbelievable array of stars we have across all sports.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy celebrates beating Waterford in 1999. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Round two runs from Saturday, February 20 to Monday, March 1:

Dave Barry v Briege Corkery.

Sonia O'Sullivan v Brian Corcoran.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy v Ronan O'Gara.

Derval O'Rourke v Rena Buckley.

Claire Coughlan v Roy Keane.

Juliet Murphy v Donal Lenihan.

Sandy Fitzgibbon v Denis Irwin.

Linda Mellerick v Rob Heffernan.

TOUGH TASK

How did we decide who was eligible?

Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Picture: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

This is Cork we're talking about, not just your run of the mill county, so even shortening it to 32 candidates was a challenge for The Echo crew.

Sonia, Roy, Jimmy, O'Gara, Irwin, Briege, Rena, Rob, O'Gara, Seán Óg, Stringer... those sporting stars identifiable by just one part of their name are obvious options.

Our team of contributors used a few criteria to nominate some more contenders.

Denis Irwin at the World Cup in 1994 for the Republic of Ireland. Picture: David Maher/SPORTSFILE

The likes of Larry Tompkins and John Caulfield didn't spend their formative years in Cork so they weren't considered for this exercise. However, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, who moved to Cork at the age of 10, was, along with Ronan O'Gara, who was born in the US.

We looked at former players or athletes, in terms of being retired from the elite level of their chosen sport, which meant Rena Buckley and Briege Corkery were in, but Simon Zebo, Denise O'Sullivan, Patrick Horgan, Davy Russell and Peter O'Mahony weren't.

Briege Corkery at the final whistle after defeating Dublin in the 2016 All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

That’s not to say any of those wouldn't win a competition to name Cork’s greatest sports stars.

There were a host of brilliant sports people who just missed out, this time around, including Mark Carroll, Pat Morley, Tom O'Sullivan, Ray Cummins, Colin Healy, Valerie Mulcahy and many more. They may all get their chance in future battles.

Our 32 contenders, nominated by our panel of writers, were placed in alphabetical order, with number one paired with 32, number two with 31, and so on.