The Last Ditch

How One GAA Championship Gave a Sportswriter Back His Life

Eamonn Sweeney

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English

Hachette Books Ireland
29 July 2025

Autobiography: sport; Memoirs; Hurling; Gaelic football

""Sweeney's prose is on fire. A blistering book that readers will relish enormously."" MICHAEL HARDING

""A cracking read ... a championship season as redemption song."" MICHAEL CLIFFORD

""All the tension of a tight knockout encounter ... one of the books of the year."" MIKE McCORMACK

In the summer of 2024, sports columnist Eamonn Sweeney set out to follow the All-Ireland championships around the country, retracing footsteps he'd first laid down in his 2004 bestseller The Road to Croker. But there was one big problem. For many years, he had struggled with a crippling travel phobia that left him largely confined to his hometown in West Cork. To fulfil his publishing contract, he had to face his deepest fears.

The Last Ditch is a story about mental health, hidden shame and a life-changing moment in a remote train station. It's about a hurling championship which may have been the greatest ever played and a football championship which definitely was not. It's about unlikely triumphs, remarkable renaissances, shocks, cliff-hangers and heartbreaks on the pitch.

Off the field, it is the story of one man's embrace of a changing Ireland as he takes back his life. Both an unforgettable sports odyssey and a revelatory personal account, The Last Ditch is a celebration of resilience, the healing power of connection and the unifying spirit of the GAA.

By: Eamonn Sweeney
Imprint: Hachette Books Ireland
Country of Publication: Ireland
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 409g
ISBN: 9781399734639
ISBN 10: 1399734636
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 29 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Eamonn Sweeney writes the Hold The Back Page column for the Sunday Independent and a Monday sports column for the Irish Independent. He is a former Irish Sports Columnist of the year and has written seven books, including the novels Waiting for the Healer and The Photograph and the sports books, There's Only One Red Army and The Road to Croker. Born in Sligo in 1968, he lives in Skibbereen and is the father of three daughters. He is the owner of a dog and a bearded dragon and headed three goals during his otherwise undistinguished under-age gaelic football career. All the other personal stuff is in the book.