Sometimes the mercurial among us are perfect. But some days they wake from slumber with a coldness, uninspired and unable to rediscover greatness. Lar Corbett fits snugly into this category.
For sustained periods during this thrilling draw Corbett glided above the grass, revealing a fervour that carried the hopes of Tipperary.
Belief surged through the blue and yellow hoards when he kept showing for ball.
Only those who know Corbett deeply could possibly have sensed such brilliance would come out of him yesterday. Some viewing from afar thought him an ageing hurler only able to offer a point or two of importance before fading. Like he did against Dublin when hitting 0-2 from the heavens before touching the sliotar once more.
Eamon O’Shea refused to doubt him. His manger always believed, despite the many, many hurling people whispering about 33-year-old legs being a liability that could betray the Premier County in their most pressing hour.
“My expectation of Larry would be pretty high and he knows that,” said O’Shea when the switch to centre forward, it was suggested, led to his best performance since denying Kilkenny the five in a row.
“I was pretty confident that today would be a good day for Larry.”
Final majesty
You could sense it, Eamon?
“Ah, yeah. Yeah. I did really.”
Corbett didn't give Croke Park another hat-trick, like the 2010 final, his annus mirabilis when he filleted Kilkenny, but his people in Thurles can put 2014's final majesty on the same high shelf.
It was like witnessing the dying embers of a hurling immortal suddenly flame back to life.
The hurling gods shined on him, making him young again – or younger than he should be – especially when he bounced off Jackie Tyrrell to so nearly create a goal for John "Bubbles" O'Dwyer. It was a moment of utter defiance. A man playing possessed.
"Yeah, he was," agreed the equally devilish Paddy Stapleton. "Suppose a lot of people were doubting him the last few weeks. But you could talk to any panel member or management or backroom team and there was no doubting Lar Corbett. He is always there on the big occasions.
“He’s like any other member of the team. He’s just keeping his head down and trying to do his best. He happened to be the one who played a part today.”
Hot streak
But he is not like the others. Corbett has always been different. During one vital hot steak – before Richie Power’s second goal – his greyhound frame was everywhere, moving out the field, demanding and winning clean ball.
There was also a point from an impossible angle.
“Yeah, it was good shot,” said O’Shea.
Corbett bungled a goal into the Nowlan Park net in July last year only to pull up lame moments later. That hamstring betrayal was when so many presumed the end was near.
And it still is. Maybe we just saw the final emptying of reserves but conditioning wise he looked primed and hunger wise he remains so important. Especially considering how many other veterans can’t make the team anymore.
“Believe it or not we are in transition,” O’Shea smiled. “I know that doesn’t go down well but we are transitioning into a new team. We had four or five new fellas [in their first All-Ireland] so I was really happy for those guys.
"The guys who only got a few minutes – Eoin (Kelly), John O ('Brien) and Paul Curran – Conor O'Mahony didn't get on the pitch today – those boys are huge leaders for Tipperary. I couldn't speak highly enough about what those four guys bring. If you don't have that you don't get the performance that we got."
If Tipp didn’t have Lar, they might have got nothing at all.
