Great sadness in Rahan at sudden death of famed former hurler

THERE was a great air of sadness in Rahan parish on Sunday as news broke of the sudden death of one of their best known citizens.

Fit and active, Pat Corcoran, Killina, Rahan, Offaly died suddenly on his way to the bog to collect some turf on Sunday morning.

79 years of age, he was widely known and appeared in good form as he went about his daily routine on Sunday morning, accompanied by his much loved son Mark and engaging with neighbours and friends.

He was particularly known in GAA circles and was arguably the best ever hurler to come from Rahan parish. There is a powerful hurling tradition in the Rahan end of this wide, sprawling parish, going back to the early days of the GAA – Rahan was one of the first clubs to emerge in Offaly after the 1884 formation of the GAA and they reached a few senior hurling finals in the 1910s, competing in one in 1936 and their final appearance was in 1953 when Coolderry were too strong for them.

Pat Corcoran was a young boy then and he developed a lifelong passion for hurling. Football gained ascendancy after the parish united under the St Carthage's name in 1964 with Rahan, Mucklagh, the notorious Blackwood Rovers and the Island, all coming together. It later fragmented with Mucklagh reforming for much of the 1980s before them and St Carthage's amalgamated in 1993, eventually settling on the Shamrocks name a year later.

The emergence of one of Offaly's greatest ever footballers, Fr Nick Clavin on the 1971 and 1972 All-Ireland senior football champions and an unlucky, long regretted defeat to Tullamore in the 1973 senior football final saw the big ball gain prominence and Shamrocks were agonisingly close to a first ever senior title in the 2000s but hurling has remained much loved and very important in the parish and Pat Corcoran was one of its leading lights, greatest advocates and possibly its most gifted hurler.

He was also a very good footballer and he played a very significant role in the early emergence of St Carthage's in the 1960s.

He was wing back on the St Carthage's team that made an instant impact when winning the Junior Hurling Championship in 1965, beating Kinnitty in the final.

That Kinnitty team included a young Johnny Flaherty. One of the greats of Offaly hurling, the late Johnny Flaherty was an almost daily walker up the canal greenway near Rahan, often wandering up the lane where Pat Corcoran and family lived, in the years before his death. He enjoyed meeting Pat and chatting him about hurling and everything else while he always spoke with great admiration about Pat's qualities as a hurler – they played alongside each other for Offaly.

Pat had remarkable longevity as a hurler and his career spanned four decades: the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s.

St Carthage's future was secured when they made an instant impact in the 1960s. That junior hurling success was important and an U21 football title win in 1966 trumped it in many ways with a young Nick Clavin midfield. Pat Corcoran and his late brothers Tony and Camillus were on that much celebrated panel and most of them won Junior Football Championship medals in 1967, as they went senior.

He played a nice bit of football, featured on senior panels, including 1973 and was very effective at the game but he was different gravy when it came to hurling. He was the star player on the St Carthage's team that lost to Kinnitty in the 1968 U21 hurling final and he duly got his Offaly call up.

He played minor hurling for Offaly in 1965, U21 hurling in 1966, 1967 and 1968. He joined the senior panel in 1969, making his debut in a league win over Waterford and he was on the squad that suffered a long remembered, narrow Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny that year.

Offaly almost made the breakthrough in 1969, 11 years before they eventually joined the winners' enclosure. Pat played 21 senior league and championship games for Offaly from 1969 to 1975 and by all accounts, he could have played a lot more but he drifted off the county scene after 1975. Johnny Flaherty maintained that he had the quality and hurling to be still on the squad for the 1980 breakthrough, though he was “getting on” in county terms by that stage.

He was again St Carthage's star man as they were beaten in the 1974 Senior Hurling Championship semi-final, he won a Junior Hurling Championship medal in 1982 and was on the squad that lost the intermediate hurling final in the late 1980s.

He wound down his career in junior “B” ranks in the 1990s, playing centre half back in a junior “B” hurling final replay defeat to Erin Rovers early in that decade. The rivalry between St Carthage's and Erin Rovers and the pure passion on display on and off the field showed why the GAA is such a powerful organisation but even though he was now well in his 40s, Pat quality shone like a beacon and you could see how good of a hurler he was.

He managed St Carthage's' hurlers for a period in the 1990s and remained a great follower of hurling and football to the end, enjoying watching games and attending them, more irregularly than he would have for decades but still oozing passion and enthusiasm.

GAA of course was only one strand of his life. He worked for Finlay Brothers for most of his life, retiring several years ago.

He took up golf a couple of decades ago, joining the Tullamore club. He really enjoyed that game, winning prizes and playing on Tullamore inter-club teams. He was a familiar figure in Brookfield for years, playing weekly games and practicising regularly.

The Corcoran family moved from Glaskill to Killina in the 1960s and have been synonymous with the locality ever since. Pat and his beloved wife, Ann; son Mark and daughters Fiona, Joanne and Patricia all live on Wood Lane in Killina and Pat and Ann remained very active, going for daily cycles on the nearby Grand Canal greenway.

They were devoted to their children and grandchildren and were a great sociable couple. Pat was a unique character and time in his company, chatting about the GAA and life in general was always very well spent and enjoyable. He was witty, had a sense of fun about him and was a great conversationalist – he enjoyed expressing opinions about the GAA and more general events and things in his area.

He came from a farming background and loved rural life, keeping a couple of donkeys beside his house – he kept his house meticulous and was talented with his hands, undertaking occasional building projects at it, many of which he did himself.

His death has come as a great shock to his family, neighbours, friends and wider community, he was a great, endearing presence in his area and he will be sadly missed by the many who knew and liked him.

Pre-deceased by his parents Anna and Pat Joe, brothers Camillus and Anthony and mother-in- law Margaret Molloy, Pat is sadly missed by his beloved wife Ann, daughters Patricia, Joanne and Fiona, son Mark, sons-in-law John and Joe, grandchildren Aisling, Colm, Ava, David-Lee, Holly, Annie, Thomas, Ellen and Adam, extended family, neighbours, relatives and friends.

Reposing at Lawless' Funeral Home, Mucklagh Village (R35 C5P6) on Tuesday evening 11th August 2026 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm. Requiem Mass on Wednesday at 11:00 am in St. Carthage Church, Killina, Rahan. Burial Afterwards in Mucklagh New Cemetery.