Friday is sport’s day at this year’s Hinterland with Barry Ryan joining us to talk about Kelly, Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling – a book that is far from being a hagiographical account of the careers of our two best known professional cyclists and which addresses the elephant in the room – drug taking in the sport of cycling. Alan Conway, author of The Story of Coolmore Stud will talk about his account of how Coolmore Stud and its training operation at Ballydoyle have come to dominate the world of horse breeding and racing. Belfast -based photographer Stephen Davison will give an illustrated talk about his updated biography Joey Dunlop: King of the Roads, on the life of the legendary motor bike rider. A suitable prelude to the famous Kells Road Races taking place over the weekend.
In 1971 four GAA correspondents started floating the idea of a scheme to reward GAA footballers and hurlers for their achievements on the pitch. Mick Dunne, Paddy Downey, John D Hickey and Pádraig Puirséal approached a potential sponsor and with the GAA on board, the first All-Star awards were born. Mick Dunne was secretary of the scheme for 25 years and a chance discovery in his office five years ago, led daughters Eileen and Moira to write this account of the first 50 years of the All-Stars. Eileen will recount how the scheme has evolved, what the ‘All-Star’ means to today’s players, the missed flights, parties in San Francisco, the Skydome in Toronto and the many friendships and indeed romances that blossomed on the way ...and they are only the stories she is allowed to tell!!
