Final four: Big names eliminated in quest to pick the best Cork city hurler since 1972

THERE are just four hurlers left in our Battle of the Bridge competition to select the best stickman from the city since 1972.

You have voted and reduced the original list of 32 gifted city hurlers to a terrific semi-final line-up of Tom Cashman, Charlie McCarthy, Gerald McCarthy and Wayne Sherlock. Incredible players every one of them but that means Patrick Horgan and Jimmy Barry-Murphy missed out when the count concluded for the quarter-finals; those amazing forwards would have been two of the strongest candidates to be crowned the overall winner.

The Echo pitched some of Cork’s finest hurling stars from the northside and southside of the city together for a series of fun head-to-head battles on EchoLive.ie over the last few weeks and the four remaining are also from the southside.

BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE SEMI-FINALS: 

Wayne Sherlock v Gerald McCarthy, Monday, November 14.

The ultimate winner will be selected by voting online at echolive.ie with the final on Friday, November 18.

How did we decide who was eligible? This is Cork we’re talking about, not just your run-of-the-mill county, so even shortening it to a list of 32 candidates was a challenge for The Echo crew. We gave John Horgan (northside) and Denis Hurley (southside) the last word on the 16 hurlers picked from each side of the river.

BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE QUARTER-FINALS: 

Wayne Sherlock (Blackrock) beat Denis Coughlan (Glen Rovers).

Gerald McCarthy (St Finbarr's) beat Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (Na Piarsaigh).

Charlie McCarthy (St Finbarr's) beat Patrick Horgan (Glen Rovers).

Tom Cashman (Blackrock) beat Jimmy Barry-Murphy (St Finbarr's).

Like the county final this year, when the Barrs ended a 29-year wait for the Seán Óg Murphy Cup to return to Togher, they face off against the Rockies in both semi-finals.

Some big names fell short in the first round, including Ger Cunningham, Tony O'Sullivan, John Gardiner, Ronan Curran and Fergal Ryan.

Paddy Barry, Shane O'Neill, Pat Moylan, Barry Egan, John Fitzgibbon, Pat Horgan, Seanie McGrath, Paul O'Connor, Martin O'Doherty, Jim Cashman and Setanta Ó hAilpín were also knocked out.

To be chosen for The Battle Of The Bridge participants had to have hurled post-1972 and to have come through the underage structures of their sport in Cork.