Pat Spillane: I was eight when my father died - the 2022 All-Ireland final was the first time I grieved

After Kerry beat Galway in the All-Ireland football final in 2022, Pat Spillane stunned hundreds of thousands of Sunday Game viewers by announcing his retirement - and breaking down in tears. In this extract from his new memoir, the Kerry icon explains why: that 2022 game reminded him of the 1964 All-Ireland final between the same two counties, when his father Tom was a Kerry selector.

Pat Spillane pictured at the launch of his book 'In The Blood' in Templenoe, County Kerry. Photo: Don MacMonagle

The night before the (1964) game, Kerry were staying in the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street, and that evening my father had a pain in his chest.

He was out for a walk with one of the players and said as much, and the player said to him, ‘Tom, you need to tell the doctor about that.’