Romantic Fiction in Gaelic Games

Is there room for romance in the world of Gaelic Games? As if television series “Normal People” didn’t already underline that there is, you’ll see what an important link it is in the first-ever novel to be set during the little-known period of professional hurling – where passion for the sport was fighting against larger forces beyond the human protagonists.

"Hurling at Goals" will be a historical first in being the only work of fiction to be set during an extraordinary period in Irish social and sporting history. Imagine a world where hurling players get paid for their efforts... where the best and most skillful are sought out by the sponsors in a sports-mad country (i.e. the landed gentry of Ireland) to play and do battle against rival houses.

Imagine then what it might be like for a young talented hurler to be selected based purely on his prowess on the field; a man of rebel stock whose father had died in the 1798 Rebellion. What does he do? He needs the money so he takes the job. But suddenly, he finds himself behind the lines, as it were. These people are now human beings to him. What then if he falls for the landlord's daughter? What will his family think of him now? What would his father have said?

"Hurling at Goals" offers a unique emotional insight into a previously unwritten chapter in our history in the way that only literature can - a cinematic background if ever there was one.