Sport: Personal stories illuminate two splendid books about our national games.
At different points of Croke Park: A History, Tim Carey inserts a page or half-page of autobiographical reminiscences by people connected with the stadium in different ways throughout the years. These autobiographical moments contribute an engaging personal quality to this detailed history. For example, Lynn Dunlea, a former Cork camogie player and winner of four All-Ireland medals, tells us about her childhood visits to Croke Park to support "all kinds of Cork teams", and goes on to describe her participation in several All-Ireland finals. She concludes her reminiscence by saying, simply: "There is no place like Croke Park."
There are huge numbers of people who would agree with Lynn Dunlea's statement. Today, Croke Park is splendidly unique. But it had many rough, tough times before it achieved that splendour, that uniqueness. Tim Carey traces the difficult, steady journey from relative poverty to breathtaking magnificence with the detached, convincing style of an accomplished historian. His objective tone is emphasised by the many mini-autobiographies throughout the book. Carey tells a spellbinding story, and this story is deepened and elaborated on by voices drawn from different decades, uttered from different perspectives.
As well as voices, we encounter unforgettable events, ranging from the savage murders by British forces on Bloody Sunday, November 21st 1920, described here in bloody detail, to the joyous Special Olympics of 2003. The Artane Boys Band comes brilliantly alive, we hear Micheál Ó Hehir thrilling the country once more, we go through the 1939-1945 war years, and the Thunder and Lightning Final of 1939 between Cork and Kilkenny. But we also get vivid portraits of people such as Pádraig O'Keefe, general secretary of the GAA from 1929 to 1964, who worked quietly and endlessly to help create the universally admired "Croker" of today.
There are, in fact, two kinds of history in this book. We have Carey's lucid, detailed story of resolute development; and we have a photographic history that can be "read" again and again with deepening pleasure and enlightenment. We see de Valera and Michael Collins throwing in the ball to start two games; we see the relatives of the Bloody Sunday dead and injured outside Jervis Street hospital; and we see an entranced Princess Grace with Prince Rainier and Seán and Mrs Lemass watching the 1963 All-Ireland hurling final between Kilkenny and Wexford. These are just a few examples of the many fascinating photographs that tell their own history (or histories) in this gripping book. Like Croke Park itself, this book is something of a monument. It will grow in significance throughout the years.
Keith Duggan's The Lifelong Season is a penetrating, eloquent book which not only depicts the many beauties and dangers of Gaelic football and hurling, but also succeeds in capturing the loves, tensions, sicknesses, challenges and emotional complexities in the lives of those playing their hearts out on pitches throughout Ireland.
Duggan, an Irish Times journalist who last week won the Sports Journalist of the Year award in print at the ESB Media Awards, writes like a gifted novelist. He is a natural storyteller, an astute psychologist, a maker of memorable phrases; and his characters come so grippingly alive that the reader simply doesn't want the book to come to an end. Each chapter gives us a full picture of well-known figures, usually set in the context of family and friends.
The opening chapter deals with Brian McEniff, the gifted Donegal player-manager, heavily influenced by his sensible, hardworking mother. He went on to become a football legend and the builder of a hotel empire.
What Duggan does superbly is create a compressed biography of his chosen central figure in each chapter. He gives that figure his or her background, traces the development of the personality through the decades, depicting setbacks and achievements in sharp, accurate language. After each chapter, one is left with an authentic sense of truth, of precision, the work of a writer determined to tell it as it was, as it is, as it is likely to become.
Duggan has done a lot of research and he is a patient, attentive listener. The book is full of the eager, articulate voices of people whose lives were (and are, in some cases) deeply involved with Gaelic games. This passion flows from page to page, from family to family, individual to individual, school to school, club to club, county to county, year to year. And Duggan goes with the flow, calmly and confidently. This is a beautiful human book. I felt as if I had actually met Christy Ring, witnessed his grace, his integrity, his love of family, his almost unbelievable hurling skills, the rough ways he was often treated on the field, and the ways he fought back.
The chapter on Frank McGuigan, the dynamic Tyrone footballer, is one of the most moving sections of the book. McGuigan's skill as a footballer was equalled only by his ferocious dedication to drinking, a problem he finally confronted and overcame. An adventurous, brave, hugely talented man.
Family is always important in this book. In 'The Gaynors of Kilruane', we read how father and daughter Len and Ciara Gaynor influenced each other's thoughts about hurling. They both played for Tipperary. Ciara is still playing. At 25, she has played in five All- Ireland senior finals and has won four medals. This chapter is electric with love and learning.
Learning. Schools. St Jarlath's of Tuam figures vividly here. And so does St Laurence O'Toole's Girls' National School in the Sheriff Street area of Dublin. These chapters present not only the students' dedication to sport, but also the behind-the-scenes work done by teachers and trainers of various kinds.
Keith Duggan's own love of football and hurling shines through from line to line of The Lifelong Season. He thinks deeply about sport and people; he is both objective and deeply involved. His appreciation of the work of other sporting journalists such as Paddy Downey, John D. Hickey and Seán Kilfeather is gratefully expressed.
Duggan has deepened and extended our understanding of the real spirit of Gaelic games and of the ongoing human complexities inextricably connected with that spirit. The Lifelong Season will be a lifelong pleasure for many people.
Croke Park: A History by Tim Carey, The Collins Press, 200pp. €30
The Lifelong Season by Keith Duggan, Town House 293pp. €12.99