Author’s bleak future no match for old love

KEVIN BARRY’S new novel about a futuristic west of Ireland ruled by violence and fear, ‘City of Bohane’, is drawing superlatives like a magnet attracts iron filings, and the genial Limerick native doesn’t hold back when it comes to his own interest in sport.

Barry’s father was active in the local soccer scene as a referee, and the beautiful game of the mid-’70s is where his love of sport began.

“The 1977 FA Cup final,” he says.