Choose any of the books to purchase and find out more
CAN YOU MANAGE?
By Tim Healy
THE BOOK
THIS BOOK is designed as a blueprint for managers or aspiring managers seeking clearly-defined methods in how to look after a football, hurling or club team across a variety of sports. While there has been a plethora of GAA books on coaching, Can You Manage? blazes a trail by focusing the spotlight on the various aspects of management. From psychological contracts to team communication, from motivation to tactics, the author painstakingly points out the potential and pitfalls of decisions you make as a manager.
THE AUTHOR
TIM HEALY has a lifelong active service record in the GAA as player, coach, manager and administrator. Born in Cork, he captained Coláiste Chríost Rí to their first ever Munster colleges SF title. He played minor football for Cork and senior football for Wicklow. He has managed successful Bray Emmets teams as well as the senior footballers of Castletown in Wexford and UCD. Tim has also managed the Wicklow U-21 football team. In Can You Manage? Tim applies his vast knowledge of business management to full use in the sporting arena.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
SMALL STEPS
By Paul McNieve
THE BOOK
Small Steps is a fascinating personal story and a motivational business book rolled up into one inspiring read.
In his book, Paul McNeive reveals how he turned the loss of his legs in a fire at age 20 into a life of positive achievement, which included becoming a leading player in Irish business life.
The pages of Small Steps trace his tenacity in returning to work on the lowest rung and his determination in climbing the ladder to lead his company into numerous multi-million euro deals.
Throughout this journey Paul shows how he applies the lessons he learned in rehabilitation and his newly discovered mental strength to his business career. The book combines entertaining stories with practical advice on how to get ahead in business.
Small Steps also tells how the author defied precedent by becoming a helicopter pilot while his love of music blossomed into touring the world as a professional Bono impersonator.
Small Steps is an inspirational and practical read with compelling positive messages – a perfect antidote for post Celtic Tiger Ireland.
THE AUTHOR
“You tend to remember where you were when you were asked for consent to amputate your legs.” – Paul McNeive’s first sentence in new book Small Steps which was launched in late 2012 by former Irish soccer star Niall Quinn .
Paul McNeive now works as a consultant with a number of high profile companies and is also in demand as a professional speaker.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
THE TELL TALE COLLECTION
By Maeve Devoy
THE BOOK
Debutant writer Maeve Devoy (23) spent almost two years interviewing ordinary people born in different decades from the 1920s right up to the turn of century. These 15 stories weave a rich tapestry of Ireland down through the years as its people faced up to the things they could not change in society and tried to balance themselves against those they could. Her book is being launched at the Listowel Writers Festival on Thursday, May 30 by author and Independent columnist Billy Keane and will be available from Thursday May 23.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
THE GODFATHER OF MODERN HURLING
By Enda McEvoy
THE BOOK
“What made the book a pleasure to research and write was the fact that so many people had such good things to say about Monsignor Maher,” Mr McEvoy reveals. “One phrase recurred. ‘A man before his time.’ He was, simply, a genius, yet at the same time a very humble person.”
Among the former Kilkenny stars quoted in the book are Paddy Buggy, Sean Clohosey, Johnny McGovern, Dick Rockett, Seamus Cleere, Pa Dillon, Tom Walsh, Pat Henderson, Chunky O’Brien, Mick Crotty, Kieran Purcell and Noel Skehan.
THE AUTHOR
One of the most important GAA books - The Godfather of Modern Hurling is the biography of Monsignor Tommy Maher, who helped the county to win seven All Ireland senior titles during his 21 years (1957-78) as coach. The book, which weighs in at a hefty 100,000-plus words, was written by award-winning sportswriter Enda McEvoy, former the hurling correspondent of the Sunday Tribune and now a columnist with the Irish Examiner.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
THERE IS AN 'F' IN HURLING
By Aidan Lenehan
THE BOOK
One of the sporting books which certainly comes under the classification of 'different' is Aidan Lenehan's 'There is An F In Hurling' which was launched late last year.
This is the story of how a Galway man living in an overwhelmingly football heartland of North county Dublin decided to start up a hurling team with the Wild Geese club. The book traces how he himself began playing again at 37 and how he cajoled older and younger friends and footballers from the vicinity to join in his pilgrimage.
It wasn't all plain sailing either as having started out in the Dublin E junior ranks, they hit the dizzy ranks of F- grade (hence the title of the book) before the influx of younger players saw them move back up in the hurling world.
The book is not just about creating an oasis for the national game where none previously existed - it faithfully recounts daily club life and the efforts to maintain enthusiasm for a project as the lure of Gaelic football and soccer see numbers sometimes whittled down to the minimum. It is an account of the 'ordinary plenty' of the GAA world which will resonate with anyone who has either played or supported a club team.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
THIS IS OUR YEAR
By Declan Bogue
THE BOOK
'This Is Our Year’ is the story of nine counties competing in the ultra-competitive Ulster Football Championship as seen through the eyes of those within each camp.
Declan Bogue’s new book is a unique insight into how the counties simultaneously prepared for, played in and ultimately departed the 2011 championship.
It is a work of many voices, many tones and many contexts as different approaches from county to county, different attitudes to winning and losing and different outcomes are faithfully documented and interwoven into a fascinating narrative.
From the early season turmoil of another tragedy in Tyrone to the Fermanagh players’ strike right through to the crowning of Donegal as Ulster Champions and into further drama in the All-Ireland series, this book will captivate you from first page to last and will become a benchmark work for all future books on the GAA.
The book hasn’t met everyone’s approval with Donegal manager Jim McGuinness so furious that Kevin Cassidy co-operated without his knowledge that he dropped him off the Donegal panel and stopped him from attending the county’s planned foreign holiday. Cassidy had been the star of Donegal’s major victories in 2011, culminating when he kicked that fantastic winning point against Kildare in the All Ireland SF championships.
But the straight-talking Gweedore man suffered a serious out of season blow by McGuinness’s serious over-reaction of banning players from attending the Donegal launch of the book and later by kicking him off the panel.
It is in this context that the comment made by Eugene McGee was indeed prescient.
WHAT THEY SAY
I am pleasantly astonished at the wonderful response which Declan Bogue has received from players in ‘This is Your Year’. The frankness and genuineness of the players’ remarks are such a contrast to the bland comments from most players today that readers will be amazed and surprised at the results.
Eugene McGee, GAA columnist and former All-Ireland winning manager with Offaly.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
TICK, TOCK, TEN
By Gerry Duffy
THE BOOK
On June 3, 2023 Irishman Gerry Duffy and 19 other competitors lined up at the start of the UK Deca Iron Triathlon to:
SWIM 2.4 MILES
CYCLE 116 MILE AND
RUN 26.2 MILES (A MARATHON)
EVERY DAY…FOR 10 SUCCESSIVE DAYS.
Only three of the 20 participants finished the gruelling event. The author crossed the line in first place but only after enduring the greatest physical pain he’d ever encountered including the fear at the end of the ninth day that his body wouldn’t allow him to answer the bell for the final round.
Gerry Duffy’s blow-by-blow account is at once revealing and uplifting as he details how he overcame bouts of hallucinations as he fought with every sinew of his being to finish the mammoth undertaking.
This gripping narrative is brilliantly supplemented with the interspersing of diaries and accounts from a number of other competitors through the book, giving ‘TICK, TOCK, TEN’ unprecedented depth, perspective and insight across its pages.
As well as offering an insight into other competitors’ experiences during this extreme challenge, Duffy also provides the reader with a detailed insight into how he prepared as he shares an intimate diary of every training session he completed.
A surprise bonus for readers at the back of the book, is access to a host of training plans with distances from zero to 30 minutes of exercise for complete beginners or those returning to fitness. In addition, access to a variety of training programmes covering half marathon and full marathon is offered (with an array of finishing time options) as well as a full iron distance training programme.
THE AUTHOR
Gerry’s first book Who Dares, Runs was published two years ago and this month went into a fifth reprint. It detailed how himself and Ken Whitelaw planned and then undertook the running of 32 marathons in 32 successive days in the 32 counties of Ireland.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
TIME OUT
By Ronan Scully
THE BOOK
Time Out is a book aimed at helping you tap into the richness of your own experiences from your daily life. A book of every day stories carrying messages of extraordinary power and positivity for all our lives.
THE AUTHOR
Humanitarian worker Ronan Scully has been writing reflective articles as a columnist with the Irish Catholic, The Tribune Group of Newspapers, The Galway Independent and Nuacht Chlair magazine and has built up a loyal following who have urged him to put his weekly thoughts in a book collection. He is a former participant in the RTE programme ‘Operation Transformation’ and has regular slots on local radio.
PRICE - €14.99 (£12.50)
WHO DARES, RUNS
By Gerry Duffy
THE BOOK
One man's inspirational journey where he went from being 50 lbs overweight and smoking 40 cigarettes a day to running 32 Marathons in consecutive 32 Days in Ireland last year.
‘Who Dares, Runs’ is a story of courage and daring containing precious insights into how the human existence can be transformed by searching for the hero inside of ourself.
The book is as much about running as Moby Dick is about a whale. It is a brilliantly written story on self-motivation and taking charge of one's own destiny - and ultimately fulfilling it.
By undertaking such an incredible feat, Gerry also spearheaded a drive which raised over half a million euro.