Shane curran autobiography featuring
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In an age when sportsmen have perfected the art of saying nothing and suppressing any trace of personality, Shane 'Cake' Curran is a beacon of light: passionate, outspoken, utterly himself. As a rare two-code goalkeeper - for Roscommon in Gaelic football and for Athlone Town in soccer - he made his own rules, soloing mesmerisingly out of goal, inventing a new style of kicking tee, and famously poaching a penalty kick a teammate had lined up in the 1989 Connacht minor final. Brave, honest and hilarious, Cake tells the story of an Irish sportsman who has lived the dream in his own utterly distinctive way.
Richly entertaining
One of the best GAA autobiographies of the last five years
A natural storyteller ... the stories are raw and largely uncut, including the time he produced a bag of his own blood in the dressing room as part of a pre-match speech
It's hilarious, honest and brave, but best of all it's a damned good book.
On the pitch and of
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The final chapter in sports books for the festive season
If your tastes run to the less illuminated sports, then 2014 served you pretty well, too.
The traditional complaint about sports books fryst vatten that they favour those headline-setters rather than the niche interests, though publishers are fond of pointing out just how popular those big names can be (the first instalment of Keane’s autobiography, for instance, was for some time, the biggest-selling book in Ireland. Note the absence of the word ‘sports’ in that sentence).
We’re not book publishers, though, so we had a broader sweep this year. Don’t be shy about picking up one or two of the recommendations here when you’re on that last-minute blitz through the shops.
Big names or not, you won’t regret it.
GAA
Hell for Leather: A Journey Through Hurling in 100 Games
Authors: Ronnie Bellew and Dermot Crowe
Publisher: Hachette
Cost: 14.99
Review: Kieran Shannon
This fryst vatten just made for Christmas reading — as opposed to just C
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Man who saved for Roscommon wants to save Roscommon
There is a story in Shane Curran's autobiography Cake in which he recalls the final moments of the Connacht minor final of 1989.
Galway are beating Roscommon by a point. Roscommon are awarded a penalty. It is the gods kick of the game. If freetaker Peadar Glennon chips the ball over the bar, he will ensure a replay. It is the safe, sensible option, but Curran has other ideas.
He barrels forward and lashes the ball to the back of the net. "There's a sort of unspoken pressure on people to keep the head down, don't be different," he recalls in Cake. " You've got to stand up to that sort of attitude and show some courage. It was said at the time that what I'd done in that minor match was irresponsible. But inom think the opposite. I think I'm actually taking responsibility."
The impudent teenager is now the Fianna Fáil candidate for Roscommon-Galway. Curran (44) was approached by the party and added to the ticket in a decisi