Corr, Ciaran
May 15, 1992
Tyrone's Ciaran Corr gets away from Cavan's Bernard Morris
CIARAN CORR
Is playing better now than at any stage in his career and it's all down to confidence and trust
It didn't matter to Ciaran Corr that he had just played his best ever game for Tyrone. It barely even registered with the elegant midfielder that his contribution to the National Football League final amounted to one of Gaelic football's finest modern-day Croke Park displays.
No, the agony and the shock of having everything snatched away in Derry's smash-and-grab raid gave way to a numbness which suppressed every positive emotion. It was a numbness which left Ciaran Corr with one simple question, tearing at his heart and torturing his mind - Why, oh why?
Why did Tyrone's powerful, potent challenge suddenly turn to disintegrating wreckage? Why, in just three tragic minutes, did those dreams of a first ever national title turn to a nightmare of horribly disturbing proportions?
Thousands, will of course remember Plunkett Donaghy's rare error of judgement which led to Derry's bizarre equalising goal so late in the game. Some misguided individuals will go so far as to blame the big-hearted Donaghy for Tyrone's defeat. Such an interpretation of what actually happened at Croke Park the Sunday before last is, at best, disingenuous.
Donaghy's contribution to Tyrone's confident display - a display which stretched Derry to the limit and frequently threatened to break their nerve - was bettered only fractionally by his superb midfield partner Corr. The real reason why Tyrone lost a game in which they were totally dominant can be found much earlier than the closing five minutes.
A side enjoying such obvious supremacy could have expected to have been more than a short head in front going into the final straight. In truth, the burden of responsibility was shared between too few individuals and Tyrone simply failed to function as the cohesive, free-flowing unit which they have proved in the past they can be.
A three-point lead, as Dublin and Meath have shown, is a dubious advantage. Ciaran Corr is in no doubt that Tyrone, although they thrilled the Croke Park crowd with an exciting brand of attacking football, have much more to offer.
And the hunt for the real prize did not in fact end at Croke Park last Sunday week. Rather it begins at Celtic Park, Derry next Sunday. "We didn't take our scores. The forward line didn't play as a unit. We seemed to be playing as individuals and not linking up together the way we had been in the past. Everybody seemed to want to do their own thing", he said. "But Derry were different. There was no individual who stood out, but they threw the ball around, and looked like a team who had a plan".
"But we know we are capable of much more. We didn't play to our full capabilities in the League final, yet, we had Derry beaten until that freak goal went in". Corr feels that League final defeat will work in Tyrone's favour, acting as a spur and as a pointer to areas in need of improvement.
"Derry are now on a high, but we know we are the better team. They will be favourites, having home advantage and having won the National League. "There will be less pressure on us, but we still have to prove that we should have won the National League. We should have been further ahead, but we know where we went wrong and we will be working on a number of areas which must be improved".
The 23 year old sales representative with Coalisland-based Plantec Furniture Systems is one man who will go into Sunday's Celtic Park championship showdown bursting with confidence. An All Star in his first season at the tender age of 20, his form slipped away alarmingly during the following few seasons to a point where many, including Corr, began to question his future as a Tyrone player.
But the National league Final confirmed the renaissance which the stylish and skilful Coalisiland clubman has gone through. Barely six feet tall and dwarfed by Derry giants Brian Mcgilligan and Dermat Heaney, he gave a spectacular display of high fielding, intelligent running, precision passing and dogged determination.
The new, revitalised Ciaran Corr is now playing better than at any time in his career, and he puts it all down to confidence and trust. The confidence is brand new and it's his own… the trust belongs to Tyrone manager John Donnelly.
When things were going badly and Ciaran Corr looked only a shadow of his former dashing self, Donnelly refused to believe that time had passed him by. "Midfield is where I have always wanted to play for Tyrone, and John Donnelly stuck by me. I hope I have justified his perseverance and trust in me".
"He told me a long time ago, when I was playing badly, that he was convinced I was the man to play midfield and that he was going to stick with me. I did think my future with Tyrone was in danger. My own performances had suffered, and when I was playing in the forward line I think I had an inferiority complex with great players like Adrian Cush and Peter Canavan coming into the side. "Now my confidence is coming back. John Dommey's confidence in me was perhaps greater than my own self-confidence and I owe a lot to him for that".
"He was getting a lot of flack from supporters for playing me at midfield, but he is his own man and he refused to be swayed. He told me he was going to stick by me if it was the last thing he did".
His performance in the National League final has allowed Corr some quiet moments of measured satisfaction as the days pass and a certain confidence that Tyrone will finally lay the Derry bogey by avenging not only the most recent defeat, but also last year's Ulster Championship shock on home ground at Omagh.
But recollections of Croke Park's cruel hand of fate are still painfully vivid. That devastating late goal came like a sudden thunderbolt from a clear blue sky and left shattered dreams strewn around Croke Park in it's wake.
"When the ball went into the net, I couldn't believe it. I was sure we were going to win the game, and it was hard to take when it was stolen away from us like that. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was a good score, or if that they had led all the way, but to lose a game like we lost that one was hard to take"
One of the first people Ciaran Corr turned to after the final whistle was choked-up Adrian Cush. "He was nearly in tears, he was devastated, he couldn't even talk. He just shook his head in disbelief and disappointment."
Then to the dressing room and a deathly silence. "At first there was silence, then there was talk of the championship. There was bitter disappointment but at the same time a determination that the same thing won't happen again. The championship game is the big one. If we win that, then all the disappointment will be forgotten about".
Taken from Hogan Stand Magazine 15/05/92
Written by Francis Mooney.
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