A clear, concise and fascinating introduction to Gaelic sport, covering Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and handball. The two greatest finals, the All Ireland Hurling and Football finals, are the largest amateur events in the world, drawing huge crowds and bringing many parts of the country to a standstill. This book deals with the origins of these games and their revival, the history of the championships and the GAA, the main rules and scoring systems, famous teams and players, great GAA grounds, All-Star awards and tours, the women's games, famous commentators, the gear and the trophies, compromise games with Aussie rules. A compendium of information on the fastest field sports in the world.
Eamonn Sweeney was born in 1968 in the nearly hurling-free county of Sligo, a deficiency remedied by his hurling-mad father from Kilkenny. He has written on sports for the Irish Examiner for a number of years, and is the author of two novels, The Photograph and Waiting for the Healer, a book on soccer, There's Only One Red Army, and a play, Bruen's Twis. Eamonn now lives in County Cork and regularly broadcasts on RTÉ radio and television on a wide variety of topics. Sport, however, remains his first love.
'Sweeney does a fine job in stripping down to the bare details what some tonnes take half of a south American jungle to explain. He deals with the founding of the organisation, its political and cultural motivation and offers enough of an insight as to what has happened since that meeting in 1884 to make this a worthwhile purchase for those who wondered what the GAA is about. That's as much as any pocket book can do.'
'A concise and fascinating introduction to Gaelic sport about football, camogie, hurling and handball.'
'Tá súil agam go nglanfar na meancóga seo má tá an dara heagrán le bheith ann mar ní ceart go millfeadh siad clú leabhair atá chomh suimiúil is atá sé úsáideach. Glacaigí libh é chuig an chéad cluich eile.'
'A concise and fascinating introduction to Gaelic sport, covering football, hurling, camogie and handball.'
