Sports Book of Year: This year's shortlist for the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year award was announced today with two of the six nominations penned by Irish Times sports journalists.
The shortlist of six books contain stories on some of Ireland's finest athletes. Sonia O'Sullivan's autobiography, Sonia - My Story, with Tom Humphries is included, as is Ronan O'Gara's story of his glittering career with Ireland and Munster.
Keith Duggan's depiction of life behind the doors of Mayo football,
House of Pain, is included on the shortlist along with the great highs and lows of a career in motorsport with arguably Ireland's greatest driver, Tommy Byrne, in
Crashed and Byrned.
Two horse racing books focusing on a couple of Ireland's most famous and interesting characters completes the shortlist. Jockey Mick Fitzgerald with his story
Better than Sexwhich was written with Donn McClean and trainer Mouse Morris tells his extraordinary tale of life within horseracing with Declan Colley.
"The top six for this year's award shows how great the competition is," said Tony Kenny at William Hill. "We have stories of success, failure, happiness and heartache and all six are brilliantly written by some excellent sports writers.
"With a range of books covering five different sports it highlights that the standard of Irish sports books is getting better every year. This year's winner will be guaranteed stocking filler for any sports fan across the country."
The William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award is in its third year. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul's autobiography Back from the Brink. Last year's award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for Heart and Soul, which documented Trevor's highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.
This year's judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland's well-known sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE's Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper, UTV's Adrian Logan and Setanta Sports' Paul Dempsey.
The winner of this year's award will be announced in Dublin this Thursday.
William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2008 Shortlist:
Sonia — My Story by Sonia O'Sullivan with Tom Humphries
House of Pain — Through the Rooms of Mayo Football by Keith Duggan
Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes
My Autobiography by Ronan O'Gara
Mouse Morris — His Extraordinary Racing Life by Declan Colley
Better than Sex by Mick Fitzgerald with Donn McClean
Judging Panel:
Declan McBennett - Sports Editor, RTE TV News
Kieran Holden - Sports Editor, TV3
Deric Henderson - Ireland Editor, Press Association
Jerry O'Sullivan - Sports Editor, Newstalk
Matt Cooper - Broadcaster, Today FM and TV3
George Hook - Broadcaster and Rugby Analyst, Newstalk and RTE
Eamon Dunphy - Broadcaster and Journalist, RTE
Adrian Logan - Sports Editor, UTV
Paul Dempsey - Broadcaster, Setanta Sports
Robbie Irwin - Broadcaster and Journalist, RTE
Gerry Thornley - Journalist, Irish Times and winner of William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2007