'Sporting Heroes' is a great trip down memory lane

TYNAN'S TAKE BY STUART TYNAN: PART 1

SO we are back in another full lockdown, or as close as it can be to one.

Given current numbers, I don't think there was any other choice but to do so. All we can do now is play our part to protect the ones we love, especially with some ending in sight with the vaccine roll-out underway.

During the first lockdown back in April, many of us went to a 'back-to-basics' approach as we enjoyed the simpler things in life once more, took up some new skill or went back to some older habits we fell out of.

I got back into books, and if you have done the same and like your sport, then 'Sporting Heroes', by Roscommon People editor Paul Healy, is a excellent read and one that will stir some wonderful memories.

During the first lockdown and beyond, Paul dedicated a section in his newspaper each week to speak about a sporting great (or team) from Ireland or abroad that has had a profound influence on his life.

Including the likes of snooker's Alex Higgins, Steve Davis and Jimmy White, tennis's Bjorn Borg, golf Seve Ballesteros, athletics Sonia O'Sullivan and Eamonn Coughlan, GAA's Dermot Earley and Tony McManus and soccer's George Best, Jack Charlton, Paul McGrath and Liam Brady, Paul has included superstars from a wide variety of sports to ensure there is interest for people who have an eclectic collection of sports they enjoy.

It brings you to a different era when sport wasn't plastered everywhere we turn 24/7, well before the days of social media and before we took live sport for granted.

The best quality about this book is that it is unabashedly sentimental. It weaves through tales of Paul growing up in Rooskey and Strokestown to the man himself getting the chance to sit down with some of his idols. In a sense, it's a story about a man whose dreams came true.

The people, teams and the moments Paul talks about may have been before my time, but it's a fascinating insight from someone who lived and experienced them first hand and for anyone from that era, it is a great trip down memory lane.

It's on sale now in local bookshops and highly recommended.

*You can read Stuart's full column every Tuesday in our print edition.