Castlebar's Joe has foot in both camps ahead of Manchester game
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December 01, 2010
Close connections
By Keith Bourke, Western People
St Peter's midfielder Joe Corcoran has his foot firmly in both camps ahead of his Manchester team's clash with Parke in Sunday's All-Ireland Club junior football semi-final.
The 25-year old Castlebar man's father Joe Snr is the long-serving bus driver for Parke National School and his mother, Sharon, is a native of the city Joe now represents.
'Dad has been the bus driver for Parke National School for more than 20 years. He would have brought a lot of the lads I'll be lining up against to school every morning. He had Simon Cloherty (Parke forward) out working on his shed the other day,' said Joe.
The ex-Castlebar Mitchels man is currently training to be a teacher in Ormskirk, located halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. A native of the Turlough Road, Castlebar, if he had been born a mile or two further out the road he could have lined out in the Black and Amber of Parke instead of St Peter's this weekend.
'I was right on the border really,' said Joe, who is familiar with a
number of the Parke players.
'I'd know Eoin Carney who is on the squad very well. I was on the same St Gerald's Colleges team as Sean McHale and Richard O'Boyle that won the All-Ireland B Colleges final and I would have played senior for Mitchels with Dwayne Flynn and Fintan McHale.'
Corcoran played senior for the Castlebar club in 2005 and 2006 before taking two years out to travel. He is now an established member of St Peter's and is also the club's PRO.
'It's a really great family club. I joined initially because I'd heard there was a strong Mayo representation,' he said. The club's captain is Achill's Ronan Gallagher, who is joined on the team by his brother Donal, cousin Shane and fellow Achill man Bryan McGinty. The Hurst brothers, Michael and Jason, ex-Mayo Gaels players, line out for St Peter's alongside Eoghan Vahey from Ballintubber.
'The social side of things is great for lads over here for the first time and the club really make sure we¹re looked after,' Joe remarked.
A tall and rangy player, St Peter's converted Corcoran from a half forward into a midfielder. 'I would have always played midfield before coming here. To be honest I'm very glad they got me to switch, I think its my best position now.'
He says while the club scene in the UK lacks the intensity of the game in Ireland it remains a competitive competition.
'Of course the standard isn't going to be as high as back home but there are still some very, very good teams and players over here. There isn't the politics in the club scene here like there is back home but what is lacking in a lot of clubs is the underage structures. That's something we're really trying to develop here at
St Peter's.'
Joe is under no illusions that it will take an outstanding effort for the exiles to defeat Parke.
'There's no doubt that we're huge underdogs but there's the huge reward of the chance to play in an All-Ireland final if we do pull it off. That's some incentive for all of us.'
