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GAA

20th Nov 2018

Is this the longest puck-out you’ve ever seen in your life?

Niall McIntyre

Stephen Corcoran can hit them boy.

You hear about goalkeepers booming it into the next parish well then Coolderry’s Stephen Corcoran must be dropping his missiles into the next bloody continent.

And tell you what, you’ve never panicked until you’ve been a defender standing in the way of one of those sliotars’ explosive paths.

Hurling has changed dramatically in the last few years through tactics, stats and numbers and gone are the days when goalies would get the game going again with only one idea of what they’re going to do next.

No complications, no dilly-dallying just hit that little ball like you hate its guts and like you don’t want to hold it in your hand again for the next ten minutes.

Corner backs could relax back in the day and the half backs could too.

It’s a different story these days with short puckouts the norm and those lads who minded the goals years ago or played alongside those goalies years ago are in the stands beside each other now and they’re pulling whatever hair they have left out saying that the goalie could have hit the ball further himself.

What is the point of all this?

Listen, hurling has moved on and they’re obviously doing it with good reason and under good instruction but there’s still nothing more refreshing and nothing more dangerous than a lumped puck-out landing on a full back’s head.

Coolderry goalkeeper Stephen Corcoran still plays that old tune every now and again and every single time he summoned one of his trademark weapons at the weekend the Ballyboden backs were bricking it.

One of his restarts set up a goal for Declan Parlon at the other end with Corcoran landing his puckout, without much of a Donnycarney breeze blowing, between the far 21 and the far 14 yard line.

Direct route one at its beautiful best.

Video creit: TG4.

How could you expect any full back line to defend against that?

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