The top sports books of 2024 – from Croke Park’s centre stage to the fringes of the tennis circuit

The Racket – by Conor Niland and Gavin Cooney (Penguin)

There’s no other place to start than with this outstanding insight into the life of a professional tennis player, one who was very good but fell a long way short of being great. Getting Niland’s story on the shelves was a gamble for all concerned but it paid off in spectacular fashion when it recently claimed the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. It was full value for that win.

The sports literary genre is dominated by champions, many of whom churn out box-ticking autobiographies that offer only a surface-level insight into their sport or psyche. But Niland goes much deeper, taking us along for a warts-and-all look at just how difficult it is for those operating just outside the truly elite echelon of tennis.

The Limerick man collaborated with Gavin Cooney – one of Ireland’s most skilled sports writers – to explain the ruthless hierarchy in the sport which reveals itself in hundreds of little ways, from differing handshakes to hotel rooms. Much of it makes for hilarious, highly engaging reading.

At times you wonder just who’d sign up for all this, given the constant toil of earning ranking points in far-flung places, with loneliness a constant companion and disappointment so often stalking his path. Maybe it’s a seven-hour taxi ride in Uzbekistan; maybe it’s getting ignored by star players who used to make conversation; or maybe it’s a crushing loss in the biggest match of his career at Wimbledon. But you get the sense Niland’s story should be required reading for any kid looking to chase the dream – just so they know what’s ahead.

This is no starving-artist whinge from someone who, for many years, got to hit balls for a living, but it is a brutally honest, brilliantly crafted reflection on exactly what it takes to rise up the ranks. You don’t need to be a tennis fan to enjoy it. But those with even a passing interest in the sport will absolutely love it.

Obsessed – by Johnny Sexton and Peter O’Reilly (Penguin)

If there was a line that had this book swiftly flying off the shelves, it was Sexton’s recollection of what Rieko Ioane told him after the World Cup quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks: “Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c**t.”

That snippet garnered countless headlines and was the shiny thing in the window to draw people in, but those who stayed and invested time in Sexton’s story have been richly rewarded. Sexton could have played it safe with this memoir but he chose, instead, to paint a complex, cranky picture of himself in the interests of absolute honesty.

He comes across exactly as so many see him: tetchy, tormented, driven by a manic desire to succeed. But what separates him from so many others who’ve covered such ground is his willingness to reveal plenty of stuff that could easily have been kept locked away. The result is a rich insight into one of Irish sport’s most complex, high-performing minds. The winner of the An Post Sports Book of the Year award, this ranks right up there with the all-time great rugby books.

My Story – by Joe Canning and Vincent Hogan (Gill Books)

Put the tale of one of hurling’s greats in the hands of a sports-writing wizard and expectations were always going to be high. But this delivers fully on that promise. It’s a book rich in anecdotes, some of them funny, some of them startling, as the hurling whizzkid with seemingly limitless potential grows up to fulfil it.

The portrayal of Canning’s parents is a warm, beautiful one, while the Portumna sharpshooter also delves into struggles with his mental health, along with the pressure he faced throughout his dazzling career – much of it from inside his own mind, with plenty more from external sources.

All the main peaks and troughs you’d hope to read about are covered in compelling fashion, giving us an easy-to-read enlightenment on what made Canning not just the hurler he was, but the widely admired person he’s become.

States of Play – by Miguel Delaney (Seven Dials)

Sportswashing has become a consistent, and thoroughly depressing, aspect of modern life and never have its seedy hands been so thoroughly examined as in this excellent work by one of soccer’s finest journalists.

Whether it’s Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, Sheikh Mansour at Man City, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund at Newcastle or Qatar at Paris Saint-Germain, Delaney traces how the world’s most popular sport was put up for sale for some very shady customers. It’s not an uplifting book – there’s no happy ending to this story, the outlook looking bleak – but it is a necessary and hugely informative one. It’s well worth a read.

Whatever It Takes – by Richie Hogan and Fintan O’Toole (Gill Books)

Injury might have blunted his brilliance at times, but Hogan was one of the key blocks in the Kilkenny hurling dynasty. In his easy-to-read autobiography, he lifts the lid on exactly what he went through to achieve what he did.

It’s a blunt, no-nonsense reflection on the sport that consumed him – and often left his body ailing. The passage recalling his back spasms ahead of last year’s All Ireland semi-final against Clare is indicative: “In general, on match day, I am a really cold individual. No laughing. No joking. No major interactions with Anne or my family. I’m never tense, never emotional. Just calm.

“This time, however, I realised the bleak situation that I was in and for once I indulged in a little self-pity. God knows, I deserved it. For a second, my eyes started to well up. It seemed a long time since I was one of the best athletes in the game. Look at me now, lying powerless on the ground, pretending I can keep doing this.”

There’s a vast swathe of hard-hitting anecdotes, like his recollection of Brian Cody roaring at him at half-time in an All-Ireland quarter-final against Limerick to “shut the f**k up and sit the f**k down,” asking Hogan: “When the f**k are you going to start living up to the potential that you have?”

It’s clean, crisp writing throughout, delivering a terrific insight into one of the game’s most skilled operators.

Bend Don’t Break – by Frank O’Mara (O’Brien)

Athletics anoraks hoping for an exhaustive rundown of O’Mara’s storied career may feel shortchanged by his memoir, but there’s always been far more to the two-time world indoor champion than what he achieved on the track.

This is as much or more about the Limerick athlete’s battle with Parkinson’s disease and the countless hoops he’s jumped through to recover a decent quality of life over the last 16 years since his diagnosis at the age of 48.

O’Mara’s decency shines through in various ways, as do the battling qualities that defined him as an athlete and a person. It’s loaded with take-away lessons and a story that could easily have been weighed down with sadness is, in the end, an uplifting one.

My Autobiography – by Davy Russell and Donn McClean (Eriu)

During his career, Davy Russell could always be relied on for brutal, blunt honesty when a microphone was stuck in front of him and now that his riding days are done, the Cork jockey has carried that same attitude into every page of his autobiography.

The opening segment, describing his 2018 Grand National victory on Tiger Roll, is expertly crafted and the book is dripping with insights about the realities of a sport where only the toughest will thrive, one of which is Russell’s assertion that to win the most famous event in national hunt racing, “you don’t actually need to be lucky, you just need not to be unlucky.”

A Farewell To The Fairways – by Dermot Gilleece (Red Strips Press)

Sixty-three years is a fair old time to be doing any job, but all that quantity distils into a whole lot of quality as Gilleece reflects on his time spent covering golf. Those with an interest in sports writing will get a fascinating insight into its evolution over time, while there’s a rich array of tales from the front lines for golf fans to enjoy, featuring Arnold Palmer, Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus and so many of Ireland’s greatest.

Blood & Thunder – by Liam O’Callaghan (Penguin)

Anyone curious about the history of Irish rugby will relish this examination of how the sport came to be all that it is today. From the political tensions of partition and the Troubles and on into the professional era, it’s replete with plenty of entertaining tales that prevent it ever becoming too weighty.

A Season of Sundays 2024 – by Ray McManus and Sportsfile

Now in its 28th edition, the definitive visual record of the GAA season is a worthy successor to those that came before, featuring a slew of superb shots from the snappers that cover the national game. A great coffee-table addition for a Gaelic games household.