Six have become one over the last week in the qualifiers for the World Snooker Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
That is to say, one Irish hopeful remains of the six who set out with ambitions to play four kilometres up the road at the Crucible Theatre, starting on Saturday.
Mark Allen has already qualified, owing to his top-16 place in the world rankings, and the former UK and Masters winner will have realistic ambitions to finally break his Crucible duck.
Of the players who didn't make it, Jordan Brown was the most recent to bow out, the Antrim man losing to Lei Peifan 10-4 on Monday afternoon.
Before him, fellow Antrim native Robbie McGuigan lost out to Zhou Yuelong, but not before winning two matches to get to the penultimate qualifier.
For Fergal Quinn, it was a case of going out in the second round after losing to Long Zehuang, bringing to an end to the Tyrone man's first season as a professional player.
Ken Doherty, meanwhile, lost his first match to amateur Patrick Whelan and it remains to be seen whether the Dubliner will give it another go on the tour.
Unquestionably a popular figure, he has been depending on an invitational tour card to compete since 2017, something WST would very likely offer him again if he planned to continue.
Whether he wants to give it one last go in 2027, on the 30th anniversary of his greatest hour, winning the 1997 World Championship, only Doherty knows.
Aaron Hill is the last Irishman standing in the qualifiers, and he will be looking to reach the biggest tournament in the game for the first time ever. If he managed it, he would be the first player from the Republic since his now coach Fergal O'Brien managed it in 2017.
He came close this time last year, leading Dave Gilbert 6-3 and 7-9 in their judgement day clash, only to lose 10-9, in the most heartbreaking fashion.
By a complete coincidence, the draw has thrown up Gilbert once more. The Englishman saw off another Cork man - Leone Crowley - in his last match.
Teenager Crowley, at the end of his first season on tour, acquitted himself superbly, winning two matches against players ranked much higher than himself, before coming up short against Gilbert. If he continues on his current trajectory, there's little doubt that he can have a future in the game.
Hill is a little further down the road than his fellow county man and, after six years on the tour, he's getting to the stage where he'll want to kick on again.
The 24-year-old has been making steady progress after a couple of stagnant seasons where he couldn't break into the top-64.
He had to go to Q School in 2022 to regain his place on the tour, but since then he's made his way up the rankings, and currently stands at 40. Victories over Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson, as well as two 147s this season, might be the things that garner the headlines.
But it's progress in tournaments that has seen Hill edge closer to the elusive top 32, with three ranking event quarter-finals to show for his last three seasons.
"Hopefully I can turn those last-16s and quarter-finals into semi-finals, finals and trophies," he told RTÉ Sport last October.
That'll will be the key to getting Hill up the next stage of his career, with the top-16 players avoiding the torture of competing in the qualifiers. To give a sense of how cutthroat it is, one of the other clashes on judgement day is the meeting of 2023 world champion Luca Brecel and 2024 finalist Jak Jones.
It's a massive amount of pressure on one match, but Hill will be hopeful that this will be his day after the sucker punch last year.
"My dream as a kid was to be where I am today, and to play at the Crucible," he said.
"I'd be lying if I said it (losing last year) didn't hurt. To get so close and the lead I had in the match is tough to take.
"But to be fair, Gilbert did well to come back. He threw everything at me and I just kind of missed one chance really in the last frame.
"You could flip it over into a positive and say I was one frame away from one of my biggest dreams, so I'm not that far away as what I think I am.
"Hopefully I can make it right this year."
