In the Blood: My life in and out of football

by Pat Spillane, Michael Moynihan

Pat Spillane is one of the best-known sportspeople in Ireland. Selected for the GAA's Team of the Millennium and winner of eight All-Ireland senior football medals, he is one of the greatest Gaelic footballers ever. Yet that isn't half of the Spillane story.He has also been one of the most controversial GAA pundits of all time, driving the agenda on The Sunday Game and in the Sunday World for thirty years. His analysis and criticism have been headline news everywhere Gaelic football is discussed, and the terms he coined, such as 'puke football', have entered the Irish lexicon.Here, Pat reveals the sadness of his childhood when his father died; his dazzling football career and encounters with other immortals, from Mick O'Dwyer onwards; the reality of life as a pundit under pressure from managers; and the huge stress of dealing with the machinery of government in the aftermath of his spell with CEDRA, the state advisory group on rural affairs.Like the man himself, In the Blood is uniquely frank, witty, honest and revealing – and a must-read for GAA fans everywhere.

308 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 12, 2023

Reviews

[Aoife · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this last year and was supposed to read this before my wedding, so I could understand a bit more of the Kerry/Dublin angst, but I just couldn’t get into it. I’m not really a sports biography person, so that’s no fault of Pat’s, but more me being attracted by more shinier books!

When he was on the 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock-in a couple of weeks ago, It was a reminder to get back to it and I’m so glad I did. It’s more than a encyclopaedia of sports, or a look back at the glory days, of course there’s that , but like Pat’s last day on the Sunday Game, we saw the true family man rather than the pundit. Through the floods of tears, he acknowledges the hardships his family have endured. The good times, the bad times and the medals in between.

This book is a love story, a testament of rural Ireland, for what it’s given him, the hardships it’s endured and how he strives to make his little patch of heaven better for everyone. Recommend this even if you aren’t a huge GAA fan

[Kitty McManus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Direct with his language, money meant a lot to him