Corbett: Club bond is special

For those who believe that Lar Corbett isn’t committed to his club, Thurles Sars, a read of his superb autobiography All In My Head should shatter any such misconceptions.

In the meantime, the 2010 hurler of the year readies himself this week for Sunday’s Munster club SHC semi-final battle with Sars of Cork in Semple Stadium, here’s an idea of what club means to the Tipperary star.

“You want to play in Croke Park with your club on St Patrick’s Day, that’s the ultimate, to win alongside the people you’ve grown up with, the people you’ve played beside all your life, to win for the people in Dúrlas Óg who first showed you how to play the game. I just picture the joy on their face if that were ever to happen, if I was ever lucky enough to get to Croke Park on Paddy’s Day and if we were then lucky enough to win. The people you’d see for the next few hours would be Thurles Sarsfields, and as a Thurles person you’d be looking into their eyes, seeing the joy. That has to be a very special moment for anyone who has ever had that experience in Croke Park.”

Would it be bigger even than winning an All-Ireland with the county, as he did in 2001 and again in 2010?

“Well it (an All-Ireland club medal) is something I don’t have and when you don’t have something then it’s logical you’ll want it more than something you already have, which makes that a very easy question to answer now — when you don’t have something you’ll always want it more.

“Don’t get me wrong — I love it when Tipperary win, and you see so many people after the final whistle. You know they’re Tipperary people, you mightn’t be too sure where exactly they’re from but you know they’re passionate about Tipperary hurling. But the people who follow the club — you know them personally, you know their family, you know their friends. To win an All-Ireland with all those people, that must be an unbelievable feeling.”

Three times in the last seven years Thurles Sars have given themselves the opportunity of winning that All-Ireland title, in 2005, 2009 and 2010; three times they’ve failed even to get out of Munster. Now they have another chance, and last Sunday, at Limerick champions Kilmallock, they made a good start. “We went there as well in 2010 and were very lucky to come out of it alive.

“I remember an incident just after half-time, a shot came off the crossbar — if that had gone in, it would have changed the game. Then they had a lot of wides also — it was almost exactly the same last week, they missed a good goal chance and had a lot of bad wides. We played well but not good enough to win Munster.”

It was a battle, that’s what it was, and in October/November, says Lar, that’s what you’ve got to expect — a battle. “Hurling at this time of year is almost a different sport, a world away from hurling in the summer as regards speed of the ball, speed of play, the movement of the players on the field.

“You have to change your game, you have to change your mindset — the best hurling teams don’t necessarily win at this time of year, it’s the team that wants it most. You still need to be a good team but it’s really all about spirit, heart, fighting for the 50/50 ball. They mightn’t look as pleasant from the stand but they’re very tough games to play in.”

It’s just such a battle he’s anticipating Sunday. “I know about the big full-forward Michael Cussen, about Cian McCarthy, Kieran Murphy, Conor O’Sullivan, Eoin Quigley, but it’s never all about the county players. The word we’re hearing is this is a team like ourselves that feels it has underachieved in Munster the last two times they won in Cork, that feel they have players to progress and win in Munster. With two similar teams it’s hard to know what’s going to happen.”