Wheel comes full circle for ‘Mines captain Corcoran
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Silvermines - North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship winners. Back row: Michael Corcoran (captain), Cathal Treacy, Darragh McKelvey, Jason Forde, Darragh Treacy, Danny Quinn, Conor Murphy, David Shanahan, Bryan Seymour, Luke O’Brien, Oisin Murphy, Padraig Fogarty, Ronan Cunneen, Conor McKelvey, Eddie Ryan. Front: Sean McGrath, Sean Nolan, Andrew Hayden, Patrick Leamy, Ronan Sherlock, Eoin Grace, Darragh Nolan, Daniel McKelvey, Cynan Bailey, Gerard Leamy, Jack Quirke Jones. Photos: Bridget Delaney brigdbridget delaneyImage 2 of 3
RIGHT: Silvermines captain Michael Corcoran lifts the Liam Devaney Cup presented by Kevin Maher (Liam Buckley Car Sales) in the presence of North Board Chairman Brendan Shanahan (right)Image 3 of 3
ABOVE: Silvermines management with Liam Devaney Cup, from left: Cathal Gleeson (selector), Declan Corcoran (manager), David Young (coach) and Jody Harkin (coach).By Liam Hogan
It’s been a long year for Silvermines captain Michael Corcoran but despair has been followed by last Sunday when he gave a man of the match display in leading his side to a first ever North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship title.
During the presentation, North Board Chairperson Brendan Shanahan alluded to twelve months earlier when Corcoran sustained a cruciate knee injury playing in an in-house game with the Tipperary Senior Hurling panel on the eve of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling final against Cork.
“It’s a year ago this weekend,” Michael recalled after Sunday’s final.
“It was devastating. You know you are going to be out for almost a year and it took the bones of a year to comeback.
“Look, when I got over the initial shock I had great people supporting me with Tipp and the club plus family and friends. Once I focussed on getting it right and getting the rehab done, things looked up from there.”
Michael only returned to action in a challenge match last month and in the last week helped his side to wins over Moneygall and Ballina to win the divisional title.
“I had two or three challenge games a month before then,” he added.
“It's an unreal win. It’s been a couple of years building. We have a good young team. Two years ago, we were there and we felt like we threw it away against Burgess in the final. We learned from that and we really showed it today.
“Ballina put up a serious battle and it was close coming down near the end but that little bit of experience got us over the line.”
He added: “Two years ago we were a whisker of been relegated in a semi-final. It shows the resilience we have and the young players coming through have been excellent and they really pushed us on. Every club needs that.”
The winning captain agreed that the club has enjoyed underage success and it has helped in the development of the team.
“Winning underage is huge,” he added.
“Huge for finals and these lads are used to getting over the line, be it north finals county finals so having the experience of knowing how to win is huge.”
The game was played in very very warm conditions but the skipper paid tribute to the resilience of the players.
“It was very very hectic,” he said.
“The heat had us gasping for water every second. To be honest you have to think about the ball and the play was so intense that you could only think about the ball.
“We were worried a little after the water break during the second half when Ballina came out and scored two in a row. We certainly didn’t use the water break as good as we should have.
“But look, the lads are so resilient and I knew they would stay going until the end and when they got a run they got right back into it.”