Thanks to all those publications who published extracts to The Game. You can read them all below: From the essay ‘Kisses’ in The Irish Times Magazine. From the essay ‘Ekstasis’ in The42.ie and The Journal. From the essay ‘Dark Passions’ (updated) in The Sunday Independent. From the essay ‘Initiations – Longing to Belong’ in The Irish Examiner. From the essay ‘A Place Beyond Words’ on the RTÉ website.
I went to the Clare Cork hurling match in Thurles. Wrote about it for the Irish Examiner. You can read it here.
It was a privilege to write about the laying to rest of the eminent sportswriter Brendan Mooney for the Irish Examiner. It was a humbling event, lit up with love. You can read it here. Photo of Sonia O’Sullivan with Ann Mooney at the funeral of her husband and former ‘Irish Examiner’ sports reporter Brendan Mooney at St Patrick’s Church, Rochestown. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney
A new essay of mine ‘A Place Beyond Words’ has been published in the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 issue of Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature which was issued in March 2022. Aethlon is a publication of the Sports Literature Association, which is centred at East Tennessee State University. It’s a print journal published twice yearly and publishes works about sport and sport literature, including original fiction and poetry, juried scholarly and critical essays, and book reviews. My essay is about the intersections between art and sport and features in my upcoming book, The Game which will be published by Merrion Press. More information about my book here. More information about Aethlon here.
Column in the The Irish Examiner about how much sport I consume. Featuring TJ Reid, Claire Melia, Tom Brady, Jonathan Wilson, Raymond Carver, Jorge Valdano and Catherine Tate. You can read it here.
I was delighted that my personal tribute to Canon Michael O’Brien was published in The Irish Examiner. ‘The Canon’ coached me on six teams between 1979 and 1984. The tribute revolves around The Fitzgibbon Cup of 1983 hosted by The Ulster University at Coleraine. You can read it here. Photo taken in Bellaghy after the win, courtesy of Mick Lyons. That’s me behind the cup.
I was delighted to have my short essay: ‘Celebrating the Return of Hurling in a Strange Time’ in Cork Words 2: An Anthology of Contemporary Cork Writing among so many great Cork writers. It’s about the return of hope in a dark time. The book is available in Waterstones Cork and Cork City Libraries. The piece was previously published in The Irish Examiner.
I was delighted my little tribute to Diego Armanda Maradona was published in the 2021 Holly Bough. It really is a Cork institution.
I wrote a piece for The Irish Examiner on the event of the 2021 Cork hurling club final between Glen Rovers and Midleton from the point of view of a boy attending his first final. You can read it here.
I really enjoyed my visit to Temple Hill to watch Cork Constitution against Dublin University for an Irish Examiner piece. Great to see a great club in action. You can read it here.
