The Best of the West: GAA Greats of Connacht

GAA is guaranteed to capture people’s hearts, imaginations and fighting spirits. Recently some fighting spirits were doubtful that Galway should be allowed to play in the Leinster championship. But what cannot be doubted is that Connacht has produced great games and great heroes. John Scally pays homage to these heroes in this celebration of the top GAA players from Connacht since the 1930s. While footballers form the majority, great Galway hurlers also feature. All were proud wearers of county colours, men of passion and dedication. Stars interviewed range from Jimmy Murray, who captained Roscommon in the 1940s, through to legends like Mayo’s T. J. Kilgallon, Leitrim’s Packy McGarty, Galway’s John Connolly, Sligo’s Eamon O'Hara, and TV pundits, Martin Carney and Kevin McStay. All have a compelling story to tell. Declan Darcy gives us his insights into management styles and competence, Paddy Prendergast tells of how the ineptitude of the selectors almost cost Mayo the 1950 All-Ireland while Kevin Walsh reveals the real reason Galway lost to Mayo in 1999. The players reminisce about referees’ decisions, successes and failures, and controversial incidents of recent decades such as the tunnel incident in the 1983 All-Ireland Football final, the ‘Keady affair’, and the Mayo-Meath melee in 1996. This engrossing and entertaining mixture, with amusing anecdotes, frank opinions and accompanying photographs, takes readers behind the scenes into the drama of Gaelic games with famous sons of Connacht.