A bit of a mixed bag, but worth it., 21 May 2008
This collection of Irish Sporting short stories is a mixed bag in terms of both quality and subject.

There are some very good stories in here by the more famous Irish short story authors - Daniel Corkery (Rowing), Liam O'Flaherty (Rugby), Bryan McMahon (Greyhounds), John Keane (Hurling) and Bryan Friel (Pigeon Racing) were the highlights in my opinion. Alongside those however there are some rather poorer efforts such as Sam McAughtry's Golf story and Mary Morrissy's Swimming (of course one man's poor is another man's quality ... ).

There's a wide range of sporting topics: in addition to those already mentioned there's also Gaelic football, Boxing, Fishing, Road Bowls, Horse Racing, Hunting, Croquet (!), Climbing and Running. Only 1 topic has more than 1 story - and bizarely it is Pigeon Racing.

I think perhaps quality has been sacrificed a little in trying to include as many sports as possible. Perhaps it would have been better to include more stories from the GAA world, for example, of which there must surely be a much wider choice of quality.

All in all though, a decent collection of stories on Irish sporting themes - there are definitely more good apples here than bad.