GAA books/autobiographies for christmas

[commonman]

Liam Hayes..Out of our Skins..is the benchmark for GAA autobiogs....reprinted now as well.

Agreed, Out of our skins is in a league of its own. Liam Hayes has this year written 'True Grit' - Sylvie Linnane's autobiography - its a good read but not in the same league.

[emmetryan]

Thanks for the shouts Corkman and Ticklemeister.

[rrhf]

Donal oG has a decent book frOm a couple of years back.

[catchandkick]

Liam Hayes..Out of our Skins..is the benchmark for GAA autobiogs....reprinted now as well.

Agreed, Out of our skins is in a league of its own. Liam Hayes has this year written 'True Grit' - Sylvie Linnane's autobiography - its a good read but not in the same league.

Disagree completely.  The league that it is in is a mediocre Division Two team, the Monaghan of the GAA literary world. Remember reading it when I was about 11 or 12 and thinking that it was lame enough. It paints a decent enough picture of life as an inter county player, but the writing is mundane and the similes are ham fisted and crude. I can still remember one of them . 'I felt the energy ooze out of me like sucking 7 Up out of a glass with a straw' , or something very close to that. Do you want to waste 12.99 or something like that reading secondary school efforts like that?

Anyway, here's my top ten, in no particular order.

Over the Bar - Breandan O'hEithir. Semi-autobiography, but built around stories of the GAA's in the 1930's up to the 1960's. Way ahead of its time.

Green Fields - Tom Humphries. Twelve or thirteen stories written around various GAA clubs and characters. He speaks with Sean Brown RIP of Bellaghy in a piece about them preparing for All Ireland club, what year was that - 1994? Anyway, great writing, some of the pieces would put the hair standing on the back of your neck.

The Lifelong Season - Keith Duggan. Quite similar to Tom Humphries' Green Fields, again containing interviews with various GAA clubs and characters. Set around 2006/7. Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of Irish GAA writers.

The Club - Christy O'Connor. Talks about a season with his club St.Joseph's Doora-Barefield , near Ennis. Makes you realise that every club is the same at the end of the day.

Over The Bar - Eamon Sweeney. Sweeney writes well and this is from the same school as Green Fields and The Lifelong Season. Travels around Ireland (by public transport) during the 2003 season meeting various clubs and characters. I would advocate buying one of Green Fields, The Lifelong Season or Over The Bar, as there is a similar format to all three.

Paidi - Sean McGoldrick. Autobiography of Paidi O'Se. The writing is pedestrian, but there are some great stories in the book and worth buying for the stories alone.

Raising The Banner- Ger Loughnane. Again, the writing is weak enough, tells the story of Clare's breakthrough in 1995. Like Paidi's there are some great stories in it and you can feel Loughnane's passion (madness?) coming out of the pages!

Windfalls - Con Houlihan. If Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of modern day Irish journalism, then Con ( who passed away in August) was truly the Ajax of his time. Windfalls is a collection of his journals, all about Irish sport, not necessarily all GAA. Con would never have written a book that was entirely GAA as he was ecumenical in his sporting views and believed that no one sport was better than any other. Was totally opposed to the GAA Ban of soccer and rugby and was very anti-nationalism. Very interesting reading.

Tangled Up in Blue. Dessie Farrell autobiography. Surprisingly good, probably because Dessie opens up more than most.

Pat Spillane. No Pat on the Back. Horrific! But so bad it's funny. Don't think Pat would have any notions that this would win literary awards! http://www.rareandrecent.com/ap_pat_spillane.html

But don't, whatever you do, buy Out of Our Skins by Liam Hayes. There's so much better out there! As I have just shown!

[qwerty123]

Liam Hayes..Out of our Skins..is the benchmark for GAA autobiogs....reprinted now as well.

Agreed, Out of our skins is in a league of its own. Liam Hayes has this year written 'True Grit' - Sylvie Linnane's autobiography - its a good read but not in the same league.

Disagree completely.  The league that it is in is a mediocre Division Two team, the Monaghan of the GAA literary world. Remember reading it when I was about 11 or 12 and thinking that it was lame enough. It paints a decent enough picture of life as an inter county player, but the writing is mundane and the similes are ham fisted and crude. I can still remember one of them . 'I felt the energy ooze out of me like sucking 7 Up out of a glass with a straw' , or something very close to that. Do you want to waste 12.99 or something like that reading secondary school efforts like that?

Anyway, here's my top ten, in no particular order.

Over the Bar - Breandan O'hEithir. Semi-autobiography, but built around stories of the GAA's in the 1930's up to the 1960's. Way ahead of its time.

Green Fields - Tom Humphries. Twelve or thirteen stories written around various GAA clubs and characters. He speaks with Sean Brown RIP of Bellaghy in a piece about them preparing for All Ireland club, what year was that - 1994? Anyway, great writing, some of the pieces would put the hair standing on the back of your neck.

The Lifelong Season - Keith Duggan. Quite similar to Tom Humphries' Green Fields, again containing interviews with various GAA clubs and characters. Set around 2006/7. Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of Irish GAA writers.

The Club - Christy O'Connor. Talks about a season with his club St.Joseph's Doora-Barefield , near Ennis. Makes you realise that every club is the same at the end of the day.

Over The Bar - Eamon Sweeney. Sweeney writes well and this is from the same school as Green Fields and The Lifelong Season. Travels around Ireland (by public transport) during the 2003 season meeting various clubs and characters. I would advocate buying one of Green Fields, The Lifelong Season or Over The Bar, as there is a similar format to all three.

Paidi - Sean McGoldrick. Autobiography of Paidi O'Se. The writing is pedestrian, but there are some great stories in the book and worth buying for the stories alone.

Raising The Banner- Ger Loughnane. Again, the writing is weak enough, tells the story of Clare's breakthrough in 1995. Like Paidi's there are some great stories in it and you can feel Loughnane's passion (madness?) coming out of the pages!

Windfalls - Con Houlihan. If Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of modern day Irish journalism, then Con ( who passed away in August) was truly the Ajax of his time. Windfalls is a collection of his journals, all about Irish sport, not necessarily all GAA. Con would never have written a book that was entirely GAA as he was ecumenical in his sporting views and believed that no one sport was better than any other. Was totally opposed to the GAA Ban of soccer and rugby and was very anti-nationalism. Very interesting reading.

Tangled Up in Blue. Dessie Farrell autobiography. Surprisingly good, probably because Dessie opens up more than most.

Pat Spillane. No Pat on the Back. Horrific! But so bad it's funny. Don't think Pat would have any notions that this would win literary awards! http://www.rareandrecent.com/ap_pat_spillane.html

But don't, whatever you do, buy Out of Our Skins by Liam Hayes. There's so much better out there! As I have just shown!

Some great calls there and I'd agree to a point re Out of our SKins, although the section about his brother is quite harrowing.  One glaring omission from our list (although I haven't read Tangled up in Blue) is The Revolution Years by Denis Walsh - an absolute gem and right up there with the best of them - comparable to a certain Mr Ibrahimovic's goal on Wednesday.  Superbly written and some great stories - a book you can open up at any random page and be entranced.

[5 Sams]

Liam Hayes..Out of our Skins..is the benchmark for GAA autobiogs....reprinted now as well.

Agreed, Out of our skins is in a league of its own. Liam Hayes has this year written 'True Grit' - Sylvie Linnane's autobiography - its a good read but not in the same league.

Disagree completely.  The league that it is in is a mediocre Division Two team, the Monaghan of the GAA literary world. Remember reading it when I was about 11 or 12 and thinking that it was lame enough. It paints a decent enough picture of life as an inter county player, but the writing is mundane and the similes are ham fisted and crude. I can still remember one of them . 'I felt the energy ooze out of me like sucking 7 Up out of a glass with a straw' , or something very close to that. Do you want to waste 12.99 or something like that reading secondary school efforts like that?

Anyway, here's my top ten, in no particular order.

Over the Bar - Breandan O'hEithir. Semi-autobiography, but built around stories of the GAA's in the 1930's up to the 1960's. Way ahead of its time.

Green Fields - Tom Humphries. Twelve or thirteen stories written around various GAA clubs and characters. He speaks with Sean Brown RIP of Bellaghy in a piece about them preparing for All Ireland club, what year was that - 1994? Anyway, great writing, some of the pieces would put the hair standing on the back of your neck.

The Lifelong Season - Keith Duggan. Quite similar to Tom Humphries' Green Fields, again containing interviews with various GAA clubs and characters. Set around 2006/7. Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of Irish GAA writers.

The Club - Christy O'Connor. Talks about a season with his club St.Joseph's Doora-Barefield , near Ennis. Makes you realise that every club is the same at the end of the day.

Over The Bar - Eamon Sweeney. Sweeney writes well and this is from the same school as Green Fields and The Lifelong Season. Travels around Ireland (by public transport) during the 2003 season meeting various clubs and characters. I would advocate buying one of Green Fields, The Lifelong Season or Over The Bar, as there is a similar format to all three.

Paidi - Sean McGoldrick. Autobiography of Paidi O'Se. The writing is pedestrian, but there are some great stories in the book and worth buying for the stories alone.

Raising The Banner- Ger Loughnane. Again, the writing is weak enough, tells the story of Clare's breakthrough in 1995. Like Paidi's there are some great stories in it and you can feel Loughnane's passion (madness?) coming out of the pages!

Windfalls - Con Houlihan. If Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of modern day Irish journalism, then Con ( who passed away in August) was truly the Ajax of his time. Windfalls is a collection of his journals, all about Irish sport, not necessarily all GAA. Con would never have written a book that was entirely GAA as he was ecumenical in his sporting views and believed that no one sport was better than any other. Was totally opposed to the GAA Ban of soccer and rugby and was very anti-nationalism. Very interesting reading.

Tangled Up in Blue. Dessie Farrell autobiography. Surprisingly good, probably because Dessie opens up more than most.

Pat Spillane. No Pat on the Back. Horrific! But so bad it's funny. Don't think Pat would have any notions that this would win literary awards! http://www.rareandrecent.com/ap_pat_spillane.html

But don't, whatever you do, buy Out of Our Skins by Liam Hayes. There's so much better out there! As I have just shown!

You were going well until you mention Páidí's and Spillane's books. Sweet jesus...catch a grip.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Just saw this in Easons yesterday. Not for the faint hearted I'd imagine. Only noticed inside that it was written by Liam Hayes.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Just saw this in Easons yesterday. Not for the faint hearted I'd imagine. Only noticed inside that it was written by Liam Hayes.

That's the Christmas present for the aul lad sorted. Nearly halfway through Emmet's book, a great chronological history of GAA matches last year. The madman will meet you anywhere in town (Dublin) and give you a signed copy for the bargain price of €15, sound aul skin.

[DuffleKing]

Liam Hayes..Out of our Skins..is the benchmark for GAA autobiogs....reprinted now as well.

Agreed, Out of our skins is in a league of its own. Liam Hayes has this year written 'True Grit' - Sylvie Linnane's autobiography - its a good read but not in the same league.

Disagree completely.  The league that it is in is a mediocre Division Two team, the Monaghan of the GAA literary world. Remember reading it when I was about 11 or 12 and thinking that it was lame enough. It paints a decent enough picture of life as an inter county player, but the writing is mundane and the similes are ham fisted and crude. I can still remember one of them . 'I felt the energy ooze out of me like sucking 7 Up out of a glass with a straw' , or something very close to that. Do you want to waste 12.99 or something like that reading secondary school efforts like that?

Anyway, here's my top ten, in no particular order.

Over the Bar - Breandan O'hEithir. Semi-autobiography, but built around stories of the GAA's in the 1930's up to the 1960's. Way ahead of its time.

Green Fields - Tom Humphries. Twelve or thirteen stories written around various GAA clubs and characters. He speaks with Sean Brown RIP of Bellaghy in a piece about them preparing for All Ireland club, what year was that - 1994? Anyway, great writing, some of the pieces would put the hair standing on the back of your neck.

The Lifelong Season - Keith Duggan. Quite similar to Tom Humphries' Green Fields, again containing interviews with various GAA clubs and characters. Set around 2006/7. Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of Irish GAA writers.

The Club - Christy O'Connor. Talks about a season with his club St.Joseph's Doora-Barefield , near Ennis. Makes you realise that every club is the same at the end of the day.

Over The Bar - Eamon Sweeney. Sweeney writes well and this is from the same school as Green Fields and The Lifelong Season. Travels around Ireland (by public transport) during the 2003 season meeting various clubs and characters. I would advocate buying one of Green Fields, The Lifelong Season or Over The Bar, as there is a similar format to all three.

Paidi - Sean McGoldrick. Autobiography of Paidi O'Se. The writing is pedestrian, but there are some great stories in the book and worth buying for the stories alone.

Raising The Banner- Ger Loughnane. Again, the writing is weak enough, tells the story of Clare's breakthrough in 1995. Like Paidi's there are some great stories in it and you can feel Loughnane's passion (madness?) coming out of the pages!

Windfalls - Con Houlihan. If Humphries and Duggan are the Barca and Madrid of modern day Irish journalism, then Con ( who passed away in August) was truly the Ajax of his time. Windfalls is a collection of his journals, all about Irish sport, not necessarily all GAA. Con would never have written a book that was entirely GAA as he was ecumenical in his sporting views and believed that no one sport was better than any other. Was totally opposed to the GAA Ban of soccer and rugby and was very anti-nationalism. Very interesting reading.

Tangled Up in Blue. Dessie Farrell autobiography. Surprisingly good, probably because Dessie opens up more than most.

Pat Spillane. No Pat on the Back. Horrific! But so bad it's funny. Don't think Pat would have any notions that this would win literary awards! http://www.rareandrecent.com/ap_pat_spillane.html

But don't, whatever you do, buy Out of Our Skins by Liam Hayes. There's so much better out there! As I have just shown!

Have read most of those. Out of our skins remains the best book for the quality of insight and honesty of the author as a window into a world that most people don't know. Super book in my opinion. I frequently find that other sports writers in this country and literary snobs don't like it because of the style and prose but to criticise it for that reason is to completely miss the point.

Of course most of the rest you list are very good books - particularly green fields. There are a few puddings in there though. The club and over the bar are dreary and hard work. Spillane and paidi's books are pure shite

[catchandkick]

You were going well until you mention Páidí's and Spillane's books. Sweet jesus...catch a grip.

I was only trying to wind up our northern brethern ( or as Spillane would say Nortern, with a silent h, in the same way he pronounces Meath as Meat) with those two!

It worked!

Spillane's book horrendous , should not have made the list. Paidi's there's a case, the writing is pathetic, but there are some great stories.

[catchandkick]

Some great calls there and I'd agree to a point re Out of our SKins, although the section about his brother is quite harrowing.  One glaring omission from our list (although I haven't read Tangled up in Blue) is The Revolution Years by Denis Walsh - an absolute gem and right up there with the best of them - comparable to a certain Mr Ibrahimovic's goal on Wednesday.  Superbly written and some great stories - a book you can open up at any random page and be entranced.

That story is very sad, but does not make it a great book and compensate for a generally poor style of writing. ( By the way, it seems to have become de rigeur for every GAA autobiography to have some sad story of a death/suicide in it - Loughnane's has one, as does Jack O'Connor's, as does The Club by Christy O'Connor, as do I'm sure numerous others I can't think of right now. I feel it is somewhat exploitative of the author/subject to be dredging up these stories for the purposes of adding to their stories. Others might disagree. )

Yes sir I have read Hurling The Revolution Years and I agree it's a very good book. Didn't come to mind as I am first and foremost a Gaelic football man and my thought process is 94% Gaelic football, 3% sex, 2% food and 1% hurling!

[catchandkick]

Have read most of those. Out of our skins remains the best book for the quality of insight and honesty of the author as a window into a world that most people don't know. Super book in my opinion. I frequently find that other sports writers in this country and literary snobs don't like it because of the style and prose but to criticise it for that reason is to completely miss the point.

Of course most of the rest you list are very good books - particularly green fields. There are a few puddings in there though. The club and over the bar are dreary and hard work. Spillane and paidi's books are pure shite

When it was written, Out of Our Skins was unique in terms of a candid description of life involved with an inter county teams. You could criticise it for style back then, but one could also say 'what GAA books are better than this?'. And that would be fair enough. Since then, however, a raft of books have come along that have superceded it - Mickey Harte's Presence is The Only Thing and Jack O'Connor's Keys to the Kingdom and Dessie Farrell's Tangled Up in Blue are far superior. I don't think I am missing the point by criticising it for its style.

To prove I am not a literary snob, I will still allow a Ryder Cup style Wild Card entry for Paidi O'Se's autobiog. What the book lacks in style, syntax and grammar, it makes up for with some great stories. (As any Kerry person knows, if there was an unedited autobiography of that man's life, it would be the greatest story ever told!)

Spillane's pure shite agreed - pure wind-uppery on my part

Yes I would agree to an extent about The Club, it's probably too long and there is probably too much detail about Clare hurling league matches and shtuf like that.

Over The Bar, I wouldn't agree. He has a lovely style of writing ( I think I got the title of Eamon Sweeney's book wrong, it's called The Road to Croker)

For fans of Irish political history ( cosúil liomsa!) , I could not recommend enough Breandan O'hEithir's book 'The Begrudger's Guide to Irish Politics'. Brilliant, brilliant book.

The first chapter is titled ' We Will In Our Arse Have Our Own Gentry' and that chapter title comes from the (probably fictitious) story of a priest in West Cork who, upon hearing news on the wireless that the Treaty had been signed in London,said to a local farrier 'Great news Paddy, the Treaty has been signed, we are free from British rule!'. Paddy replied 'That's great Father, but most of the landlords and gentry will now probably return to England and I'll lose my best customers.' The priest replied 'Nonsense Patrick, this freedom means we have the authority to run our own affairs. Given time, no doubt, we will have our own gentry'

To which the bould Paddy replied ' WE WILL IN OUR ARSE HAVE OUR OWN GENTRY!'

Classic! (Paddy of course was proven right)

Straying off topic here, but can anyone recommend any non-mainstream Irish political history books?

[catchandkick]

Also, for northern-based Kerry GAA afficionados ( Tyrone people in particular), I would contend that no county has more books associated with their county team than Kerry. In the same way that Kerry lead Throne by 36 to 3 in the All Ireland stakes, I am sure that the stats are similarly weighted in favour of Kerry on the book front!

Off the top of my head

Kingdom Come - Eoghan Corry . About Golden Years team, very thorough. Good read

Keys to the Kingdom - Jack O'Connor. He never did find them in the end (spoiler!) but it's still a very good book.

Paidi Autobiog - McGoldrick. Discussed earlier, good stories.

Princes of Pigskin . Kerry GAA photos from the archives of the Kerry's Eye newspaper. Some of the photos are fantastic, no posing either, as nearly everybody does for modern photos, damn Facebook generation.

Jimmy Deenihan autobiog. Poor

Mick O'Connell autobiog. Not bad, most people wouldn't know much about his playing days.

Just My Luck - John Curran . Autobiog of a man from Valentia who is paralysed from the neck down, Kerry GAA plays a part in the story ( John died a few months ago, RIP)

Weeshie book about Dr. Eamon O'Sullivan (trainer of Kerry senior football teams from the 1930's to the 1960's). Not bad but repetitive.

Tadhg Kennelly autobiog. Disingenous, like the man himself. Use as kindling for fire.

Mick O'Dwyer autobiog by Owen McCrohan. McCrohan was Kerry physio in the 1960's and 70's ( and from the Deep South(of Kerry) too) so would have been quite close to O'Dwyer. This is a good book

King in a Kingdom of Kings. Again about Dr. Eamonn O'Sullivan . Ok

36 and Counting. Niall Flynn. Kerry GAA history. Detailed.

Paudie Sheehy autobiog. Not bad

And there are many more which I cannot think of right now

[IolarCoisCuain]

You're leaving a major book off your (excellent) first list CatchandKick. It's "Kings of September," by Michael Foley, about Offaly's defeat of Kerry in 1982. It's outstanding, not just because of the sports side of things, but also because it places the story firmly in the context of its time, in the recession-crushed 1980s. Now that the 'eighties are here again, it's especially appropriate.

On a pedantic note, I think the Páidí book was ghosted by Seán Potts, rather than Seán McGoldrick.

You mentioned books on politics. Bit of a curate's egg, this particular school of Irish letters. Irish politicians are disinclined to writing books. Those that do are often motivated by score-settling more than the historical record, of which Dan Boyle's is the most recent example.

Two Government press secretaries have written interesting insider books. Seán Duignan's "One Spin on the Merry-Go-Round" is excellent on Albert Reynolds brief and stormy time as Taoiseach over two coalitions. Frank Dunlop's "Yes, Taoiseach" is fascinating, and is a far more cynical book than Duignan's. Frank doesn't mean the elephant in the room, but you do sense the dark heart that beats at the heart of the Irish state when you read between the lines.

[5 Sams]

You're leaving a major book off your (excellent) first list CatchandKick. It's "Kings of September," by Michael Foley, about Offaly's defeat of Kerry in 1982. It's outstanding, not just because of the sports side of things, but also because it places the story firmly in the context of its time, in the recession-crushed 1980s. Now that the 'eighties are here again, it's especially appropriate.

On a pedantic note, I think the Páidí book was ghosted by Seán Potts, rather than Seán McGoldrick.

You mentioned books on politics. Bit of a curate's egg, this particular school of Irish letters. Irish politicians are disinclined to writing books. Those that do are often motivated by score-settling more than the historical record, of which Dan Boyle's is the most recent example.

Two Government press secretaries have written interesting insider books. Seán Duignan's "One Spin on the Merry-Go-Round" is excellent on Albert Reynolds brief and stormy time as Taoiseach over two coalitions. Frank Dunlop's "Yes, Taoiseach" is fascinating, and is a far more cynical book than Duignan's. Frank doesn't mean the elephant in the room, but you do sense the dark heart that beats at the heart of the Irish state when you read between the lines.

+1 Superb. Tom Humphries' book about the Kerry Dublin rivalry is also top class.