'Tough' Barry pointed at me and said: 'this is your last time ever travelling with the Cork team!'

In an extract from Cork Hurling: Game of My Life, Gerald McCarthy recalls the night he feared his career had ended - before it began.

Gerald McCarthy training ahead of the 1978 Munster final against Clare.

My father brought me to the All-Ireland final in 1956, Cork against Wexford. It was my first time in Croke Park and that really stirred something inside me. Christy Ring was going for nine All-Ireland medals, a record, and unfortunately Cork lost but the memories of it really sunk into my head – Art Foley’s famous save from Ring, Nicky Rackard’s goal, just the whole atmosphere. I would never have even dreamed that only ten years later to play in an All-Ireland final, as captain!

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