Piece on Going to a Championship Match in Thurles
10 May 2022
I went to the Clare Cork hurling match in Thurles. Wrote about it for the Irish Examiner. You can read it here.
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Sports essay
Time for another sports diet… maybe next week
1 February 2022
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.
My Tribute to Canon O’Brien in The42.ie Best Sportswriting of the Week
19 January 2022
Big thank you to the42.ie for including my Irish Examiner Tribute to Canon O’Brien in its Best Sportswriting of the Week. I’m in some amazing company here. You can read the full selection here.
My tribute to Canon Michael O’Brien published in The Irish Examiner
14 January 2022
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.
The Game included in the Irish Examiner sports books, Netflix series, films, and video games to watch out for in 2022
10 January 2022
Big thank you to the novelist and sportswriter Eimear Ryan who included my next book The Game from Merrion Press (May 2022) in her list of sports books, Netflix series, films, and video games to watch out for in 2022. Her kind words were a lovely boost. Read all her recommendations here.
The Game Listed as one of the 2022 Books to Look Out For
9 January 2022
It was lovely to see my next book, The Game: A Lifetime Inside and Outside the White Lines listed in TheJournal.ie and The Irish Times as one of those to look out for in 2022. In such good company, it’s going to be an amazing year of writing.
My Next Book will be out in May!
1 January 2022
I’m delighted to announce that my next book The Game: A Lifetime Inside and Outside the White Lines will be published by Merrion Press in May 2022. The book is a hybrid, a multifaceted meditation on sport. It is part memoir, outlining my time as a player and fan of sport and how it has shaped my life. It is also a book of essays critiquing several aspects of sport, both good and bad, and showing its influence in the wider world. It is also a work of auto-fiction, wherein I try use my novelistic abilities to chart narratives, personal and public. It is, finally, a work of scholarship, interweaving my own view of a life spent inside and outside the white lines with the cultural discourse of previous writers and thinkers on the many themes explored.
Piece in Cork Words 2: An Anthology of Contemporary Cork Writing
27 December 2021
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.
Piece in Cork Words 2: An Anthology of Contemporary Cork Writing
19 December 2021
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.
Essay on Diego Maradona in Holly Bough
10 December 2021
I was delighted my little tribute to Diego Armanda Maradona was published in the 2021 Holly Bough. It really is a Cork institution.