{"product_id":"old-parish-notes-on-hurling-paperback","title":"Old Parish: Notes on Hurling - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCiarán Murphy\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award, Irish Book Awards 2025\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'No matter if you're a die-hard hurling fanatic or you've never seen a match, \u003ci\u003e Old Parish\u003c\/i\u003e is well worth a read.' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHot Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Entertaining and thoughtful'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Irish Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'There aren't enough of these books ... The whole thing is a delight' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMalachy Clerkin, Irish Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e--- \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHurling is Ireland's national game - a source of fascination and pride, even to people who have never played it. Ciarán Murphy, a lifelong club footballer, used to be one of those people. Then he spent a summer trying to play hurling with a tiny club in the West Waterford Gaeltacht. Along the way he embarked on a quest to understand the history, geography and mystique of this extraordinary sport. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOld Parish is the club of Ciarán's father, a club where relatives of his are still deeply involved, and possibly the only place brave (or stupid) enough to take on a forty-one-year-old newcomer to the game. Predictably (and at times hilariously), Ciarán finds out just how difficult a sport hurling is to pick up when you're in your sporting dotage, up against men who've played it since childhood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCiarán also explores why hurling is played in only half the country; he investigates the origins of hurling clubs' antipathy to football and the difficulties of establishing hurling in new areas; he looks into the mysteries of hurley-making; and he seeks to understand why, when a hurling legend refers to the sport as 'the greatest game ever played by any man', he has to be taken seriously. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnyone who has ever watched hurling knows that it is something unique and extraordinary. \u003ci\u003eOld Parish \u003c\/i\u003eexplains why.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eCiarán Murphy is a podcaster with Second Captains and a GAA columnist with the \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e. His first book, \u003ci\u003eThis is the Life: Days and Nights in the GAA\u003c\/i\u003e, was shortlisted for Eason Sports Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 240\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 30, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47194466681081,"sku":"9781844886890","price":36.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/3z893e6WUy9781844886890.webp?v=1767920565","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/old-parish-notes-on-hurling-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}