Ireland's beanpole strike force of the 1980s and '90s, Big Cas and Big Niall, have between them deconstructed the soccer autobiographical oeuvre as forcefully as they dismantled many a short-arse defence in their day.

1. Niall Quinn - The Autobiography (Headline € 22.99)

Like Big Cas before him, Quinn sets out each chapter with a provocative quotation drawn, thankfully, from sources other than Big Ron Atkinson. Because Quinn spent most of his adult life playing soccer, there is an awful lot of soccer in his book. But there is much more besides. What makes this a valuable sports book is Quinn's longevity, and he has a great eye for period detail as he bounces around England's elite soccer grounds knocking in goals.

The most fascinating chapters chronicle Quinn's Lost Weekends in the mid and late 1980s, which he spent playing for Arsenal and drinking hard around the Irish strongholds of north London. There are several great tales, some sombre and some hilarious. Quinn's ability as a raconteur and the ability of his ghost, Tom Humphries, to evoke the sense of time and place on the written page make a classic striking partnership of the genre.

Inevitably, Saipan looms large in the book, which is dealt with as a running theme in alternative chapters. Big Niall examines his doomed role as Peace Envoy and, like all ageing strikers, wishes he could turn back the clock.

His one wish in publishing the book was that people might see that behind the scenes he could be a cad. Still, most will remember him as a nice guy, and this is an honest and distinguished valediction to one of the folk heroes of Irish soccer.

2. Keane - The Autobiography (Penguin € 28.40)

Is this a book you wish your wife, or even your servant, to read?

After immense hype, the surprise was that the eagerly awaited collaboration between the two most controversial figures of the Irish game turned out to be a conventional soccer biography.

Before the famous broadcasts and the political diatribes, Eamon Dunphy was a sportswriter of great conviction and originality. The guess was that he would have brought those qualities to bear in penning the dream soccer biography.

Perhaps he felt Keane's story required nothing more than a plain and honest narrative and that's how the book is framed, opening on a juicy prologue with the exit from Saipan before whizzing back to Roy in the cradle.

Given that Keane's definitive account of the showdown in Saipan was reserved for this book, the events of the summer inevitably dominate and in a way overshadow the previous decade in which he worked his way to becoming arguably the greatest Irish sports person of all time.

Keane's searing honesty is strongly communicated by Dunphy, who reveres such bluntness, and the book is never less than engaging. Always, though, there is the urge to skip, say, the 1993 Premiership season to the end to see exactly what Roy did and didn't say to the Gaffer.

Dunphy was trenchantly pro-Roy during the summer of discontent and undoubtedly the emotion of what had passed was still high when the two began to collaborate for this. It would be fascinating to see what kind of book they would produce now when tempers have cooled.

A good book, not a great book.

3. The Big Fight. Dave Hannigan (Yellow Jersey € 16.10)

Not, thankfully, another rumination on Seven Days in Saipan but an affectionate examination of one of the most curious chapters in Irish sporting history, the 1972 heavyweight fight between Muhammad Ali and Al "Blue" Lewis that took place in Croke Park.

Although slight in scale, this is an exhaustively researched and immaculately presented account from Dave Hannigan who managed to trek down many of the key protagonists from the event. It also contains some wonderful Ali photographs - hurling with Kilkenny's Eddie Keher and holding court with the Taoiseach of the day, Jack Lynch.

Hannigan is on a winner with the book's two stars; Ali is the most important sportsman of the last century while Lewis, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, has a wonderful story to tell. Almost every interviewee has a great Ali anecdote that combines to illuminate the unique charisma of the man.

The Big Fight also gives an impression of what Ireland was like three decades ago and leaves you with the feeling that people had more time for each other and for laughter then.

4. Hooked: A Hurling Life - Justin McCarthy (Gill and McMillan €16.20)

A perfectly timed trip down memory lane for the Cork man, who published his memoir early in the year before masterminding Waterford's Munster championship campaign in the summer, one of the finest achievements of a glittering career.

McCarthy is a hurling obsessive. Part folklorist, part scientist, his approach to the game as a player and trainer is highly innovative. Brimming with self-belief and confidence, McCarthy's account of his colourful career and his descriptions of the friends and enemies he gathered over the years is exceptionally well told by Kieran Shannon.

His triumph with Waterford only served to underline the merits of his own philosophy of the game and had the added benefit of propelling McCarthy into the spotlight again.

5. The Boylan Years. Edited by Liam Hayes (Carr and Hayes € 25.99)

When word went round during the year that Hayes was working on a book about Boylan, GAA fans everywhere licked their lips. Sean Boylan is the great enigma of the modern GAA landscape, a charming, complex and elusive man who has made his native Meath a truly great football county. Over 20 years he has produced some of the toughest and most brilliant teams ever seen, including that which starred Hayes in the late 1980s.

Hayes's autobiography, Out of Our Skins, is generally regarded as one of the best Irish sports books, so this rumour promised much. The final result is certainly a comprehensive study, but the style is surprising. Hayes and a team of researchers seem to have interviewed everyone who ever pulled on a Meath jersey over the last two decades and their views are transcribed verbatim. It is a thorough journey through the seasons as told by many of the Royal County's favourite sons.

Boylan's cleverness, his personality, his ruthless training sessions and his ability to motivate are brought to light here, but the man himself remains to be caught.