Our Books

House of Pain - Through the Rooms of Mayo Football - Keith Duggan

  • House of Pain by Keith Duggan (reissued) is the sweeping chronicle of 50 years of unrewarded endeavour which captures the spirit of Mayo football and Mayo football people.

    Mayo’s glorious but failed quest for All-Ireland honours has by now been woven into the nation’s sporting mythology.

    House of Pain is an account of that long journey, but also of the personal lives of those who were in the vanguard of the battle, and whose stories are told with warmth and compassion.

    Keith Duggan’s obvious love for Mayo football is the cornerstone of House of Pain, an ode to Mayo football sadness, to half a century of bitter disappointments and might-have-beens.

    When first published, House of Pain was hailed as a classic for the ages. It has lost none of its bitter sweet sparkle in this, its second iteration.

 

McAlpine’s Men - Irish Stories from the Sites - Ultan Cowley

  • 'On Saturday nights in The Half Moon, a ganger would come in and ask did you want a shift in the morning (pulling cable for Murphy). If you did, you had to guarantee him a drink the next night. The shift might last from seven o'clock until half past twelve, for about five pounds a shift. No documentation- just a bundle of fivers in the pub, and pay the men out'

    Mc Alpine's Men is a unique collection of stories from the 200,000 Irishmen who laboured on civil engineering sites, pulled cable, drove tunnels and drank their pay in pubs such as The Crown, The Spotted Dog The Archway Tavern and many more during the building of Post War Britain and beyond.

    This collection is edited by Ultan Cowley who, since the early nineties, has devoted himself to recording the stories of Irish emigrants whose lives revolved around the British construction industry in the last century. It will be a delight to those who were there, and a revelation to those who weren't.........

 

Weathering the Storm - Geraldine Lavelle

  • In 2013, while out for a routine cycle, Geraldine Lavelle’s life changed in an instant when she was involved in an horrific road accident. The Castlebar woman suffered a spinal cord injury that left three-quarters of her body paralysed. Overnight, Geraldine had to adapt from being an independent, physically-active young woman to a new world where she required assistance to perform the most basic tasks.

    Weathering The Storm is Geraldine’s honest and inspirational account of her journey over the last nine years – from those dark, bleak early days when she struggled to accept the cruel fate visited upon her to her emergence as a powerful and articulate voice for people with disabilities in Ireland. This is a story of resilience, a story of a courageous young woman’s determination to survive the harshest of life’s storms.

Andy – Lessons Learned in Pursuit of Glory - Andy Moran

  • Andy Moran is one of the most respected and admired sportsmen to ever grace a Gaelic football arena.

    The former double All-Star, Footballer of the Year and Mayo team captain has written a compelling appraisal of the sport he loves. This first publication by the Mayo author follows his retirement in 2019.

    It is a book about Mayo football – the agony, the ecstasy, the bitter near misses, the players, the friendships, the highs and the lows.

    But it has a much broader canvas.

    Andy – Lessons Learned in Pursuit of Glory does what it says. It tells us how sport can influence every aspect of a player’s life; of how football moulded the writer himself; of the life lessons that sport teaches all of us; and of how a coach or mentor can be a life-changing influence on a young adult.

    As the author says, this is a story about relationships and lessons learned, told through the people who inspired him and who, in turn, epitomise what is so special about Mayo football.

 

The Men Who Built Britain - A History of the Irish Navy- Ultan Cowley

  • 'The contribution of the Irish "Navvy" to the British construction industry has been "immeasurable".

    For over two centuries, for hundreds of thousands of rural Irish male immigrants to Britain, the best chance of a start was in construction. While the men themselves have been largely forgotten or ignored, the canals, the railways, the roads, tunnels, dams and public utilities of Britain stand as lasting monuments to their sacrifices and achievements.

    "The Men Who Built Britain" has been researched by Ultan Cowley over a number of years. In it he quotes extensively from numerous interviews with genuine Irish navvies and subcontractors, senior English management and relatives of those involved.

 

Second Chance & Other Stories - Liam Horan

  • In this debut collection of short stories by Liam Horan, the concerns of someone moving through the rough and the smooth of middle age come to the surface– the loss of central figures in your life, the effort to place in context your existence thus far, the nostalgia for days that can’t return and the looming shadow of your own mortality.

    Horan’s engaging characters range from the mild to the provocative. They nudge you with their messages of self-realisation, optimism and quiet acceptance as they navigate real-life dilemmas: the Spanish man returning to the Irish city where he met the love of his life, the journalist retracing old steps after the death of a long-lost friend, the woman breaking free of a coercive partner to rediscover her self-worth, the sports star redefining her relationship with her sport and herself, the father for whom the break-up of his daughter’s marriage sunders his fulfilling friendship with his son-in-law and the widower venturing out into the world again. It is a collection that deals with change. In prose that is thoughtful and measured, and in west of Ireland settings, the journeys the characters make, are both real and metaphorical.

    Liam Horan lives in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, with his wife Noreen and their dog Harris. He is a former journalist who worked in a variety of publications, including as Gaelic Games Correspondent of the Irish Independent (1995 to 2000). He is the creator of the Championship Man series of essays on RTÉ Radio One (Drivetime and Countrywide programmes). He is currently employed by the Western Development Commission on the ConnectedHubs.ie project, and is also the proprietor of Slí Nua Careers, a career training agency.

Andy – Lessons Learned in Pursuit of Glory - Limited Edition - Andy Moran

  • Andy Moran is one of the most respected and admired Gaelic Footballers of his generation. The former two-time All-Star, Footballer of the Year and Mayo team captain has written a compelling account of his journey through the sport he loves, told through vignettes about the mentors who influenced him, teammates who’ve inspired him and the games that made him.

    This is a book about Mayo football - the agony and the ecstasy, the near misses, the friendships, but it has a much broader canvas.


    Andy - Lessons Learned in Pursuit of Glory does exactly what it says. It tells us how sport can influence every aspect of a players life; of how the game of football moulded the writer himself; of the life lessons that sport teaches all of us; and how a good coach can have a life-changing influence on a young athlete. It is also an homage to his native Mayo, a county that has captivated the country season after season through daring deeds and epic comebacks, all in the pursuit of glory.


    The limited edition version of this title is a book for the discerning Mayo GAA fan and book lover. Each copy will be signed and is adorned by a unique 'away' book cover.

 

Between Mee and You - A collection of stories by the genuine Auld stock - Johnny Mee

  • For over 20 years, Johnny Mee’s Auld Stock column in The Connaught Telegraph has been compulsory reading every Tuesday.

    Johnny is a treasure trove of memories of the Castlebar and Mayo of yesteryear. His ability to recall people, places and events right back to his childhood in the 1930s is exceptional.

    He has a phenomenal recall and his columns are a marvellous trip to another era, recalling the characters, happenings and day to day life of previous generations.

    Johnny doesn’t just recall his own childhood and adult years but the stories passed onto him by older generations. He’s a wonderful storyteller with wit, knowledge and he offers a pithy look at many of the flaws of modern life.

    This collection of the best of his columns is a unique and vital social history of Castlebar and Mayo.

    His love for ‘the town I have loved so well’ is clear and he honours the memory of those who went before him and those who will follow him with this wonderful trip down memory lane.

 

The History of Castlebar - Noel Campbell & John Healy

  • Geographically located in the centre of County Mayo, Castlebar has been at the heart of the county’s

    affairs for centuries and has been the scene of major events in Irish history. From prehistory to the

    twenty-first century, The History of Castlebar tells the county capital’s story, and that of its inhabitants, through a series of glimpses into the past.

    'The History of Castlebar' takes the reader through the town's history in accessible chapters, each one dealing with a specific facet of the town's history. Readers will be enthralled by the descriptions of the town's early Castle, from which Castlebar gets its name. Castlebar sports clubs, businesses and street names, among many others interesting topics are dealt with in this wonderful book.