Another ‘Season of Sundays’ from Sportsfile stable

IT WOULD take more than a global pandemic to stop Ray McManus and his team of Sportsfile snappers in their tracks. They had to improvise like the rest of us when Covid-19 came into our lives so unexpectedly, but they were there front and centre as per usual when the action re-commenced across a variety of sporting disciplines.

Every year without fail since 1997, ‘A Season of Sundays’ has been a stand-out feature on our Christmas bookshelves, with the entirety of the GAA season over the previous twelve months captured through some stunning imagery.

With the most recent All-Ireland football final not taking place until December 19, it meant publication of the 24th issue of this fantastic publication was put on hold until the new year.

However, it’s available now and, given the unprecedented nature of the 2020 campaign, this particular edition is likely to become a real collector’s item in years to come.

On that note, you might be sitting on a mini-goldmine if you have copies of the back issues from 1997 to 2000, 2002 to 2005, 2010, and 2012 to 2015. All of those are now completely sold out, but there’s plenty of GAA enthusiasts out there hell-bent on acquiring missing editions to complete their collection.

Limerick’s Gearóid Hegarty, crowned hurler of the year over the weekend, adorns the front cover of this new publication, with a group shot of the all-conquering Dublin footballers on the back.

It’s somewhat unnerving in the early pages of the book to witness crowd scenes from the matches played pre-Covid.

However, the year under review takes on an entirely different complexion between pages 60 and 61, covering early March, and a stunning shot on 62 and 63 of a couple watching television in their apartment overlooking MW Hire O’Moore Park in Portlaoise on the day in May when the venue should have been hosting a Leinster Senior hurling championship game.

Ray McManus heads a team of 15 with a keen eye for detail, and they have outdone themselves in this publication. Ben McShane, Brendan Moran, Dáire Brennan, David Fitzgerald, Diarmuid Greene, Eoin Noonan, Harry Murphy, Matt Browne, Oliver McVeigh, Piaras O Mídheach, Ramsey Cardy, Sam Barnes, Seb Daly and Stephen McCarthy deserve fulsome praise for their work.

Contact The Book Centre (053-9123543 or bookswexford@gmail. com) to secure a copy before it sells out.