Brian Corcoran
Brian Corcoran
Brian Corcoran (born 23 March 1973) is an Irish former hurler and Gaelic footballer who played as a centre-back and as a full-forward for the Cork senior teams.Born in Glounthaune, County Cork, Corcoran first played competitive Gaelic games whilst at school at Midleton CBS Secondary School. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of fifteen when he first linked up with the Cork minor teams as a dual player, before later joining the under-21 sides. He made his senior debut during the 1991-92 National Hurling League. Corcoran went on to play a key part for Cork as both a hurler and as a footballer, and won three All-Ireland medals, five Munster medals and two National Hurling League medals. He also won three Munster medals as a footballer. He was an All-Ireland runner-up on three occasions. As a member of the Munster inter-provincial teams in both codes, Corcoran won one Railway Cup medal. At club level he is a three-time championship medallist with Erin's Own. His grandfather, Bill Corcoran, was an All-Ireland champion runner while his brother, John, was a dual player at minor and under-21 levels with Cork.Throughout his career Corcoran made a combined total of 56 championship appearances for the Cork hurling and football teams. Having retired for football following the conclusion of the 1998 championship, Corcoran announced his second retirement from inter-county hurling on 14 November 2006.Corcoran is widely regarded as one of the greatest hurlers of his generation and second only to Christy Ring in terms of Cork's all-time greatest players, and second to the great Clare Hurler Seanie McMahon in terms of the country's all time outstanding centre backs. He has been repeatedly voted onto teams made up of the sport's greats, including at left corner-back on the Cork Hurling Team of the Century in 2000, while he was later chosen as one of the 125 greatest hurlers of all-time in a 2009 poll. Corcoran also won two Hurler of the Year accolades and three All-Star awards.