This week’s guest is two-time All-Ireland winner Liam Hayes.
Liam’s career is unique: he became Chief Sports Writer with the Sunday Press while he was playing inter-county football with Meath, meaning he had to write about games in which he played, along with profiling and interviewing opponents, team-mates and, at one point, his own manager.
We also talk about his iconic autobiography, Out of Our Skins, which has been remembered as the book that changed the genre in Ireland. He explains why he felt he could have done a better job on the book, and also the cathartic process of writing about his brother’s tragic suicide.
Liam also remembers his poignant meeting with a fading Kevin Heffernan, at which he told him he would be writing his biography, and we also talk of Liam’s own battle with cancer, and the novel that was part-inspired by his treatment and his thoughts on mortality.
Liam’s picks were: Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger; Open by Andre Agassi; Ali: His Life by Thomas Hauser; The Damned United by David Peace
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