Soccer

Essay in Irish Times on Sport in Irish Fiction

I was delighted my essay on sport in Irish fiction was published in the Irish Times in October 2021. The piece describes the dearth of sport in Irish fiction but also how that has changed this year with books by Adrian Dunbar, Rónán Hession, Eimear Ryan and Paul Howard all featuring sport. You can read the article here. 

Five Moments in Sport

I wrote an essay, ‘Five Moments in Sport’, and the lovely people at The Stinging Fly published it in May 2019. In July 2019 they kindly put the essay online on their website

Some Articles and Reviews in The Irish Examiner

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately. Instead, I’ve been finishing off a crime novel. Honestly. I’ve also been writing some book reviews and sport-related pieces for The Irish Examiner. Here’s the proof (I haven’t been slacking), in reverse chronological order.

Admiration, Wonder, Joy.

Sport is about emotion. I’ve said this before. Other things too, but mostly emotion. And sometimes the emotions aren’t good but we seek them out anyway. We make ourselves vulnerable to them, we put ourselves out there. We let ourselves be open and exposed. Not a common stance for men. We stick our unprotected heads above the parapet in the full knowledge we could get our blocks knocked off.