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Joseph Corcoran (1940 – 23 October 2017) was an Irish Gaelic footballer. His league and championship career at senior level with the Mayo county team spanned three decades from 1958 until 1974.

Born in Ballina, County Mayo, Corcoran played at golf in his youth. At the age of fourteen he first played competitive Gaelic football with the Ardnaree Sarsfields club. He later progressed onto the adult team and won two county junior championship medals.

Corcoran made his debut on the inter-county scene when he was selected for the Mayo minor team. He was an All-Ireland runner-up in this grade in 1958, having earlier won a Connacht medal. Corcoran made his senior debut during the 1958-59 league and, after a brief spell with the Mayo junior team, he became a regular member of the team. Over the course of a sixteen-year career, he won Connacht medals in 1967 and 1969, followed by a National League medal in 1970. Corcoran played his last game for Mayo in March 1974.

As a member of the Connacht inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, Corcoran won a Railway Cup medal in 1969.

Kevin McStay mentioned Corcoran as only being matched by Cillian O'Connor in the pantheon of Mayo forwards. "Ciaran McDonald was a completely different type of forward. He wasn't amassing the numbers Cillian gets. So that's two top class forwards, heavy scoring machines in 50–60 years", McStay told Dermot Crowe in 2022.

Honours

Ardnaree Sarsfields

• Mayo Junior Football Championship (2): 1959, 1971

Mayo

• Connacht Senior Football Championship (2): 1967, 1969
• National Football League (1): 1969-70

Connacht

• Railway Cup (1): 1969

References

1. "Ardnaree clinch first junior title". Irish Independent. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015. The club that gave us Mayo legend, 'Jinking Joe' Corcoran, clinched their first provincial junior club title at MacHale Park, Castlebar where they proved a class above Galway champions, Clifden, in testing conditions.
2. "Mayo mourn 'Jinkin' Joe Corcoran". Hogan Stand. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
3. Rice, Seán (31 October 2017). "Jinkin' Joe leaves a legacy". The Mayo News. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
4. Crowe, Dermot (26 June 2022). "Mayo must alter a losing formula". Sunday Independent. pp. 6–7 (Sport). McStay talks of Joe Corcoran from the 1960s and '70s, only really matched by O'Connor in recent years. 'Ciaran McDonald was a completely different type of forward', he says, 'he wasn't amassing the numbers Cillian gets. So that's two top class forwards, heavy scoring machines in 50–60 years'. 'Mayo forwards, three of the best' JOE CORCORAN Playing up to 1974, the Ardnaree man won Connacht medals in 1967 and '69 and a league medal in 1970. He played golf in his earlier years, only taking up football at 14. Over 96 games for Mayo seniors he scored 20 goals and 358 points. Known as 'Jinkin' Joe', some regard him as Mayo's best forward'.

• 1940 births
• 2017 deaths
• Ardnaree Sarsfields Gaelic footballers
• Connacht inter-provincial Gaelic footballers
• Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers
• Sportspeople from Ballina, County Mayo