It’s always heartening to see someone still living and working to the best of their ability in their eighties.  This is the case with Sean Og O Ceallachain who is the co-author (along with Owen McCann) of a book that has just been launched entitled “The Liam MacCarthy Cup”.

It’s basically a reference hurling book that charts the games that were played out since 1923 where the MacCarthy Cup was the prize.  Among the finals highlighted are the Thunder and Lightning final of 1939 – played in a deluge while a real war erupted elsewhere in Europe – and the stunning smash-and-grab win by Offaly in 1994, when they scored 2-5 in the last 6 minutes to make the most unlikely of comebacks.

Amongst the photographs, there is one of my father lining out for Waterford in the 1959 All-Ireland; the last time a hurling final was replayed and which was played (precisely to the day and date last Sunday) 50 years ago in an October that was also unseasonably warm.

Sean & Owen describe this final as a “sporting game” where a composed display from Waterford  saw the Noreside neighbours (who were also bogeymen back then) off.  The authors also refer to both sets of players congratulating one another whole-heartedly at the end.

In Waterford, the traditional view of Kilkenny is that of a side that has always relied more on its skill than its brawn – the opposite to what the traditional view of the Tipp sides of that era in particular – at least, that’s the distinct impression I get from talking to some of those men.

In any case, it’s a hurling book worth checking out – a well-written series of accounts of the finals that serve as a reminder of so many great matches.

“My Father: A Hurling Revolutionary, the life and times of Ned Power” is out on paperback at the end of November 2009.  Click here for further information, pre-order and excerpt.