We present the results of a ground-based search for the secondary eclipse of the 3.3 M Jup transiting planet CoRoT-2b. We performed near-infrared photometry using the LIRIS instrument on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, in the H and Ks filters. We monitored the star around two expected secondary eclipses in two nights under very good observing conditions. For the depth of the secondary eclipse, in the H band we found a 3σ upper limit of 0.17%, whereas we detected a tentative eclipse with a depth of 0.16% ± 0.09% in the Ks band. These depths can be translated into brightness temperatures of TH < 2250 K and T_{K_s} = 1890^{+260}_{-350} K, which indicate an inefficient re-distribution of the incident stellar flux from the planet's day side to its night side. Our results are in agreement with the CoRoT optical measurement (Alonso et al.) and with Spitzer 4.5 and 8 μm results (Gillon et al.). Based on observations obtained with the William Herschel Telescope, operated by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes and situated on the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in La Palma, Spain.