Cork Hurling: Game of My Life launched to much acclaim

The recent launch of Cork Hurling: Game of My Life in Waterstones on St Patrick’s St was a huge success.

Written by Echo Sport reporter Denis Hurley, it has been the top-selling sports book in the country for the past two weeks. It features 25 different former Cork hurlers reminiscing on the one match that they hold dear above all others, providing unique insights across a timeframe of 53 years.

Cork native Tadhg Coakley – author of the novels The First Sunday in September and Whatever It Takes, as well as Denis Coughlan’s autobiography Everything – launched the book and noted how, while there were obviously many similarities in the various players’ stories, each was unique to them. For instance, Jimmy Barry-Murphy chose his final inter-county match, the 1986 All-Ireland final against Galway, whereas Kieran ‘Fraggie’ Murphy opted for his first championship start, the 2004 All-Ireland qualifier against Tipperary in Killarney, a win which set the Rebels on course for the first of two straight All-Irelands.

Two stalwarts of that panel were Ronan Curran and Wayne Sherlock, who both chose the 2003 Munster SHC win over Clare – the first championship match since the infamous strike of 2002 – but, whereas Curran devoured as much information on the opposition as he could before a game, Sherlock eschewed video footage of any kind. Each approach worked in its own way!

Some of the hurlers featured in the book were present on the evening and were more than willing to sign copies and pose for pictures.

Cork Hurling: Game of My Life is published by Hero Books and is available in bookshops all over the country now, while hardback and ebook versions can be purchased on Amazon.