The 2010 hurler of the year knows how distressing the coronavirus pandemic has been for people both in terms of their health and livelihoods.

He had to close his Thurles pub while business for his Lar Corbett Sports company has dried up.

But rather than worrying about the challenges ahead, the three-time All-Star is making the most of his time at home with wife Elaine and their four daughters. He even volunteered to have his hair cut by them last week.

“Personally speaking, I think we will look back on this time in the years to come and say: ‘Wasn’t it great to spend such time with our families?’

“To get through this, I really think you have to turn into a kid with the kids. If they’re out on the trampoline or the swings, you’re out with them. We have to stop thinking as adults and be like the kids.

“The school are sending homework. Our kids are six, four, two and three months and the eldest two are going to school and they’re getting their bits and pieces and listening to their teachers online and there’s something fantastic in that and we wouldn’t be experiencing it only for the situation we find ourselves in.

“Before the kids go to bed, we play snakes and ladders and draughts with them, two board games that we would never, ever have been playing with them other than this and the craic we’re having with them is brilliant.

“All week the girls had been asking to cut my hair and I had refused them but I eventually gave in. They ended up cutting the hair and then mammy had to join in to fix the problem. We all came to the conclusion that the whole thing had to be shaved off. As regards business, this time just makes you realise it should fall so far behind family and enjoy what you have with the kids.”

Corbett runs daily errands for his mother while his parents-in-law see their grandchildren through the front window.

“All we want is for everyone to come through this safe. We don’t really care how long we’re inside as long as everyone is okay. We will want to live to fight another day. Us younger people can earn money and get a job again but if we could just keep our distance and keep ourselves safe it will be so worth it.

“The grandparents haven’t been able to hug their grandchildren now for almost a month. We started this a week before the lockdown for the pubs for the sake of our parents. Elaine and myself said if we were overreacting we would change after a week but as it turned out we weren’t. We have FaceTime, we have the phone. We just have to do what we have to do.”

Initially, Corbett had seen the recommendation to close pubs as an opportunity to renovate his own only for the construction industry to come to a grinding halt last week. For the time being, it is completely gutted.

“There’s not a bottle of beer, not a stool left in the place. We know that normality will be phased back in but I can see the pubs being the last to open. This virus has to be fully gone before the Government can give the go-ahead for the pubs to re-open because when they do it’ll be like a St Patrick’s Day weekend or Christmas. I’m 100% a believer of that.”

As for hurling, he hopes clubs are prioritised ahead of counties when the suspension is lifted. “Whatever they do come up with, I’d like to see the clubs back first. You have the club people getting a lift straight away and the numbers at games would be safer. I wouldn’t like to see the county take over things so that 40 guys are playing for Tipperary and everyone else has to wait. When this thing turns and sport comes back, I would like to see that the clubs get preference because people in every corner of Ireland will need a lift and it’s the lift to the communities that will mean the most.

“It will help to kickstart the country.”