The Game
By Tadhg Coakley. Merrion Press
Any of us who write about sport will have thought about having a go at this kind of book at some point. An attempt to understand sport, to explain it (and us), to sketch its contours in our own peculiar way. Coakley has saved the world the bother of having to plough through all that. A book of wisdom, love, mania and truth. Read our review.
The Rodfather
By Roddy Collins and Paul Howard. Penguin Sandycove
There isn’t a funnier sports book this year – there might not be one for the next decade. The life and times of Roddy Collins: journeyman footballer, coulda-been-a-contender manager, plasterer, chancer, dreamer, messer. Expertly told by Paul Howard, who corrals the endless yarns into a cohesive story and does justice to a mad, mad life. Read our review.
Kellie
By Kellie Harrington and Roddy Doyle. Penguin Sandycove
A terrific collaboration. Kellie Harrington’s story is unique – a teenage tearaway from Dublin’s north inner-city, a gay, not especially sporty troublemaker who had to be sent away to live with an aunt in England to knock the edges off her. Doyle coaxes her journey from there to Olympic gold out of her with warmth, wit and tenderness. Read our review.
Limerick: An Autobiography in Nine Lives
By Arthur James O’Dea. Hero Books
There aren’t many original ideas in sportswriting so it’s always a pleasure to come across one, especially one executed with such élan. This is the story of Limerick’s rise to hurling world domination, with nine biographies woven together to tell the story. You could argue there’s a 10th here as well – O’Dea and his family make this a personal book as well as a universal one. The year’s best GAA book. Read more here.
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Phil
By Alan Shipnuck. Simon & Schuster
One of the best sporting biographies in years – a rip-roaring, thoroughly fair portrait of the golfer Phil Mickelson. Shipnuck has covered Mickelson for almost three decades and they’ve fallen out over this book, which does it a grave disservice. The opening chapter, in which Shipnuck gets 30 golf personalities to tell their best Mickelson story, is worth the cover price alone.
Second Sight
By Ian McKinley and Gerry Thornley. Reach Sport
This could have been a sob story or a tale of anger and bitterness. It’s anything but. Ian McKinley lost his eye playing rugby and with it, apparently, his shot at an elite-level career. But here he and Gerry Thornley tell the frankly amazing story of how he managed to swim back upstream. Easily the rugby book of the year.
Expected Goals
By Rory Smith. HarperCollins
It’s a big ask, to come up with a readable book about the statistical analysis revolution that has shaped modern football. Rory Smith’s zippy narrative is equal to it because it’s not a book about numbers. Rather, it’s the story of the people who crunch those numbers and how they found a home in a hostile sport. You’ll never look at soccer the same way again.
History of the GAA in 100 Objects
By Siobhán Doyle. Merrion Press
A lovely idea, expertly steered to its execution by cultural historian and Wexford GAA woman Siobhán Doyle. Split into 100 small chapters, it’s the story of the nation’s largest cultural institution told through everything from letters to trophies to jerseys to Brian Cody’s cap. A consistent pleasure to dip in and out of.
This article is part of our guide to the Irish Times books of the year. Follow one of these links to read Tony Clayton-Lea on music books / Rory Kiberd on nonfiction books / Adrian Duncan on art books / Seán Hewitt and Martina Evans on poetry /Niamh Donnelly on fiction / Jane Casey on crime fiction / Claire Hennessy on young-adult fiction / Sara Keating on children’s books / Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, Fintan O’Toole and more on their books of the year
