Darragh Corcoran excited by Cats' return of the King

The Ballyhale defender says he was happy to see his clubmate Henry Shefflin get the top job on Noreside. 

Pictured at the launch of the championship season with Clubber was Darragh Corcoran (Ballyhale Shamrocks, Kilkenny). Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

You'll no doubt find Henry Shefflin at UPMC Nowlan Park next Wednesday evening, for Round 4 of the county's senior hurling league.

His own Shamrocks Ballyhale are down to face Dicksboro and a fourth win from four may even extend their lead at the head of Group B.

Despite the depth of their talent pool, they haven't always shown form like this. In both 2023 and 2024, they finished fifth of the six teams in their group, leaving them with an extra round to navigate in the subsequent Championship. They missed out on a top-two league finish last season too, denying them the bump straight through to the quarter-finals.

Maybe it's the buzz created by Shefflin's appointment as county senior hurling manager that has them flying as they are. Or maybe it's the more specific sense for individual players that opportunity is knocking. With a clubman at the county helm, and the slate wiped clean following Derek Lyng's departure, anything must seem possible.

"I was happy for him to get it, I couldn't say otherwise," said Shamrocks and Kilkenny defender Darragh Corcoran at the launch of Clubber TV's coverage of the club championships. "When I came up with Ballyhale first, for my first two years up at senior, he was manager and I built up a good relationship with him. He gave me my first start."

Corcoran assumed a pretty central role for the Cats under Lyng this year, emerging as their preferred centre-back.

"I was comfortable enough with it," said Corcoran, pointing to the experience he'd gained from already playing there with Shamrocks.

But there's no guarantee he'll remain there, or any certainties at all regarding the group as Kilkenny hurling finds itself as its most significant crossroads in perhaps decades.

Rewind back to when Shefflin managed Shamrocks to back-to-back All-Ireland club titles in 2019 and 2020 - it seemed a done deal that he'd come in with the Cats seniors and work a similar oracle.

Six years on, he is vastly more experienced following his time with the Galway seniors and last year's stint with the Kilkenny U-20s, but didn't enjoy anything in the way of major success.

Throw in the fact that he is inheriting a group fresh off a failed Leinster campaign, and a county without an All-Ireland win since 2015, and it's no great surprise that Kilkenny are as low as sixth favourites to lift Liam in 2027.

These aren't the circumstances anyone had envisaged for King Henry's ascension to the throne.

"Just from seeing him around the parish growing up, looking at him, he's just such a professional," said Corcoran, reminding us why Shefflin might just be able to turn water into wine. "He's absolutely obsessed with hurling. That can't but rub off on you then. I'm very happy to see Henry in there.

"Everyone in Kilkenny would know Henry fairly well. Even from the U-20s last year, some of those lads will hopefully be on the Kilkenny team and will have known him. Everyone from the surrounding parishes, he worked with Thomastown as well, he was manager there, so everyone knows what he's done in his career and you're only going to listen to a lad like that. It's massive for Kilkenny hurling and hopefully things will go a bit better next year."

David Herity will be Shefflin's head coach.

"He was with Kildare, he was with Tipp and sure they won the All-Ireland," noted Corcoran of Herity's recent gigs. "We had him with Ballyhale there last year. Again, just a complete professional when it comes down to it."

Corcoran's expectation is that another key figure from Shamrocks, TJ Reid, will be involved again too. By 2027, the father-of-two will have turned 39 though he has spoken openly in the past about potentially playing to 40 and beyond.

"He just absolutely loves hurling, loves it, I have no doubt he'll try to go again next year," said Corcoran. "He'll be well able for it. It makes some difference having a lad like TJ around. He's constantly trying to improve himself. The day after a game, he's nearly the first man back in the gym recovering. It's infectious when you see it because you see what it takes and you just want to follow that."