The first Sunday in September
By: Tadhg Coakley
Publisher: Mercier Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Blackrock, Cork, Ireland
Language: eng
Number of pages: 162
ISBN-13: 9781781175682; 9781781175699; 9781781175675
Subjects: Hurling matches; Fiction; FICTION; General
Description: Truly Irish novel revolving around a fictional All-Ireland hurling final. Having re-mortgaged his home a hungover Clareman gambles the last of his money on his county to win. Sarah Taylor attends the final with her partner, Conor Dunlea, wondering when to tell him that she's pregnant. Tim Collins watches the match from the stands, his gaze repeatedly falling on the Cork captain, Sean Culloty, whom he and his wife, Evelyn, gave up for adoption years earlier. Clare star forward Cillian McMahon struggles under the weight of expectation. Cork's talisman Darren O'Sullivan waits for the sliotar to fall from the sky, aware that his destiny is already set. These are just a few of the characters whose lives we join for a day.
Table of contents: title: Intro; The Traitor; One Step; Forever and a Day; Passion; Dúchas; Five Seconds; Áine Laughs; Angels; Her Mother Evelyn; Losing; A Pure Dote; His Frank O'Connor Moments; Maybe It Won't Be So Bad; Alan and Maureen Dunlea are Awake; The Pride of Kilbrittain; Can You Talk?; Ours; A Study of Fandom in the Context of Darren O'Sullivan, Cork Hurler; The Glory of That Day; Acknowledgements; About the Author; About the Publisher