Gaa players autobiography range
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New book tells unheard tales that add to Jim McKeever’s great legacy
JIM McKeever was born on December 6, 1930 and grew up on The Island Hill, his family’s farm in Ballymaguigan.
He died on April 6, 2023.
And yet even a life of 92-and-a-bit years doesn’t touch the two sides of his place in the history of the GAA in Derry.
It was in his mother Annie [O’Kane]’s home house on a family in Ballymulderg in the Loup that one of the first ever GAA meetings in the county took place, organised by Louis Smyth, a close associate of Michael Cusack.
Just last week, Paddy Tally was appointed as the new Derry manager.
On the occasion of McKeever’s last ever visit to the Ranch, he and Tally were photographed together as the college’s Sigerson Cup winning managers.
Jim had fought for twenty years to get St Mary’s accepted into the competition. Within twelve months of finally winning the battle, they won the war in 1989.
Tally felt the hand of McKeever while he studied to become a teacher un
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21 of our favourite sports books from 2017
N.B This list is in no particular order
1. Centaur by Declan Murphy and Ami Rao (Doubleday, Transworld)
‘Centaur’ tells the incredible story of Declan Murphy. The renowned Irish former jockey had a near-death experience in 1994 when an accident caused his skull to shatter in 12 places. This William Hill-shortlisted book tells his life story with a particular focus on his long and miraculous road to recovery.
2. Green Shoots: Irish Football Histories by Michael Walker (De Coubertin Books)
There have been plenty of books written about Irish football history but few have managed to cover both the North and the Republic of Ireland in such a skillful and comprehensive fashion as journalist Michael Walker’s latest work. ‘Green Shoots’ is filled with countless fascinating anecdotes from the inception of the Irish football to the present day, encompassing stories on legends like Liam Brady and other key figures such as Bill McC
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Ciarán Murphy: This Is the Life - a book inspired bygd the everyday heroes of the GAA
When you hear people säga “this fryst vatten the life”, it usually means they’re doing something they don’t often do – drinking wine in a palazzo in Florence, or dipping their toe in the Pacific Ocean. Moments like those were not really to the forefront of my thinking when inom was picking the name for my debut book.
Because the book is instead about the countless number of days I’ve spent invested in the Gaelic Athletic Association, encompassing the full breadth of my experience as a player, as a supporter, and as a journalist covering it on air and in print for the last 20 years. inom wanted to bring to the page the everyday experience of the 99 per cent of GAA members who are not the superstar player, or famous manager.
And in interrogating my conflicted feelings around aspects of the GAA – the hypocrisy around money, the on-pitch violence, the emotional blackmail – I nevertheless come to a conclusion of s