The Last Ditch

GAA, the Fear, and One Man’s Long Road to Croker
The ball is in the air as a sports writer confronts his deepest fears on a GAA championship trail. The question is where it will land.

"Sweeney's prose is on fire. A blistering book that readers will relish enormously." MICHAEL HARDING

"A cracking read . a championship season as redemption song." MICHAEL CLIFFORD

"All the tension of a tight knockout encounter . one of the books of the year." MIKE McCORMACK

In the summer of 2024, sports columnist Eamonn Sweeney set out to follow the All-Ireland championships around the country, retracing footsteps he'd first laid down in his 2004 bestseller The Road to Croker. But there was one big problem. For many years, he had struggled with a crippling travel phobia that left him largely confined to his hometown in West Cork. To fulfil his publishing contract, he had to face his deepest fears.

The Last Ditch is a story about mental health, hidden shame and a life-changing moment in a remote train station. It's about a hurling championship which may have been the greatest ever played and a football championship which definitely was not. It's about unlikely triumphs, remarkable renaissances, shocks, cliff-hangers and heartbreaks on the pitch.

Off the field, it is the story of one man's embrace of a changing Ireland as he takes back his life. Both an unforgettable sports odyssey and a revelatory personal account, The Last Ditch is a celebration of resilience, the healing power of connection and the unifying spirit of the GAA.

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