Cork captaincy carrot dangles for Corcoran
It wasn’t quite the Brian Corcoran who set the Park alight on an autumn afternoon in 1992 when his ten points were the abiding memories.
A star then, a legend now, the Erins Own magician pitched in with a couple of gems during a high scoring and intense final. His point in the 57th minute finished off Cloyne; a cameo of sheer beauty and artistry and one to put beside his 1992 collection. He wrong-footed a Cloyne player with a drop of the shoulder before bringing the ball into himself and swinging beautifully over the bar.
“To be honest, every score in the second half was vital. Obviously the goal and Hero’s (Kieran Murphy’s) long free were pivotal as well. In a game as close as that, every score is critical. It was a high scoring game considering the time of year and conditions but we were delighted to get the scores I got that one but missed another couple. Sometimes they go over, other times they don’t.
The 33-year-old sees symmetry in the 1992 win – that came off the back of a loss to Kilkenny in the All Ireland final as was the case this year.
“I can see parallels,” says Corcoran. “The last time I lost an All-Ireland to Kilkenny we won the county. Obviously losing the All-Ireland was a big disappointment but this is fantastic.
“It’s 14 years since we won the last county. A lot of guys in this camp don’t even remember that. We were training the other night and there were a couple of 17 year-olds out in Caherlag and they were only three and could not remember ‘92.
“It’s fantastic and great for the younger lads. They’ve won underage but they hadn’t done it at senior level and it’ll give them great belief.”
It took 23 minutes for Cork’s full forward to hit his first clean ball which ended in a point – his first attempted shot was blocked by Declan Motherway.
Obviously feeling claustrophobic around the Cloyne square, Corcoran was moved to centre forward where he picked off that 23rd minute point.
“The fear of losing three in-a-row puts a lot of pressure on a team and we knew that coming in. But in fairness, Cloyne started very well, they didn’t look as if the pressure was getting to them. When we pulled ahead in the second they pulled it back again. Maybe on the day a draw would have been a fair result but we’ll take our victory.”
When Erin’s Own hit their stride they are difficult to stop and Cloyne could never muzzle them as they had in the first half. “In all games so far this year we haven’t played great in the first half, and then we tend to start the second half quite well,” said Corcoran. “That happened today; we turned a one point deficit into a four point lead at one stage.
“I don’t know what it is. There was nothing special said at half-time: get your ass in gear, there are only 30 minutes left was all I could remember.
“County finals don’t come around that often you know. We gave it our best shot and luckily it was good enough at the end.”
Corcoran maintained a smile across his face as his long serving team-mate Timmy Kelleher raised the Cup.
But, being the great man he is, his heart went out to Cloyne, especially to his Cork team-mates.
“You have to feel for them. They’re great men and to lose three county’s in-a-row must be heartbreaking but that’s sport. They gave it their best shot and could have taken it today. We got more scores than they did and that’s what counted in the end. No doubt, it’s tough for some of them to lose a county and an All Ireland in the one year.”
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