The closing chapter on sports books of the year

If you’re following the Irish sports books scene any bit closely, then its award season has probably left you feeling a tad confused, as it has us. One appears to favour Black Panther, the other, a Moonlight, with little apparent sentiment or room for a La La Land.

If you were to set out to win the Bord Gáis award, which was presented to Cora Staunton with her appropriately-titled Gamechanger last Wednesday, then an autobiography would appear the obvious — indeed only — way to go. Only one of the six nominated books — Paul Rouse’s terrific The Hurlers — wasn’t a ghosted effort as Davy Fitzgerald, Sean Cavanagh, Andy Lee, and Rosemary Smith were in the house along with Cora.