The Road to Croker

The 21st anniversary edition of the GAA classic, with a new author Foreword. In 2003, sportswriter and GAA fanatic Eamonn Sweeney set out to uncover why each year, from May to September, the Irish nation is seized in the grip of GAA frenzy. The result was a best-seller sports memoir, first published in 2004. In this hilarious and riveting account, Sweeney transports us to the raw excitement of the terraces, the clubhouses and the bars, recalling the highs and lows of a remarkable season. Via Kerry, Down, Tyrone, Tipperary, Cork, Dublin and beyond, he revealed how it was that, from working-class estates to Gaeltacht communities, from republican strongholds to the Dublin cross-dressing scene, the GAA cast the same spell across Ireland. Find out which midlands town was the Irish capital of arm wrestling, what it was like to play for the weakest team in the country, and why you should never ring a Laois man the day after he's won the Leinster title. Told with immediacy and verve, The Road to Croker was the first book to unravel the mysteries of a national obsession. Including anecdotes and interviews with players, managers and fans, this is the companion volume to the author's acclaimed 2025 book The Last Ditch.