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Lar Corbett (far right) with his Tipperary team-mates ahead of last year's All-Ireland senior hurling championship final. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Lar

Never say never: Ryan leaves the door open for Corbett comeback

“Everybody in Tipperary hopes that he’ll change his mind over the coming weeks,” manager Declan Ryan says on Lar Corbett’s hurling exit.

LAR CORBETT WILL be welcomed back to the Tipperary senior panel with open arms if he ever reconsiders his decision to step back from hurling, manager Declan Ryan said.

But the Tipp boss insisted that he won’t pressure the star forward into a u-turn, and said that Corbett deserves time to fully consider his options.

The Premier’s hurlers were rocked on Monday when Corbett met with Ryan, and then texted his team-mates, to inform them that he was withdrawing from the panel to concentrate on work and business committments.

Corbett, 30, won two All-Ireland hurling titles and three All-Star awards during 11 years at senior level with Tipperary.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Brian Carthy on Morning Ireland, Ryan said that everybody hopes to see Corbett back in the blue and gold before too long, but acknowledged that after years of loyal service, fans and management owe him the courtesy of a bit of space.

“Obviously, I asked him to reconsider and I gave him some time to think about it,” Ryan said.

“He said that he’d been thinking about it for some time and that he has come to this decision. Everybody in Tipperary hopes that he’ll change his mind over the coming weeks and we’ll see him in the Tipperary set-up again.

I think we’ll have to respect Lar’s decision for the time being and give him the space that he requires. He’s been a fantastic servant there, and I know that the commitment he has given to his hurling, he hopes to give that to his new venture in business.

Ryan also paid tribute to Corbett’s achievements in the game, describing his service to Tipperary hurling as “phenomenal”.

“We hold Lar in the highest regard.

“I was just saying to the players tonight that his record over the last three years even, any inter-county forward would be happy to have that record for an entire career.

“He’d an excellent year for us in 2010 and he’d a very good year for us in 2011. He was probably disappointed I suppose with the way the year finished up, no more than any of us.”

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