{"product_id":"9781405984508","title":"Old Parish: A journey to the heart of the world's most remarkable field sport: hurling","description":"\u003cp\u003e'No matter if you're a die-hard hurling fanatic or you've never seen a match,\u003ci\u003e Old Parish\u003c\/i\u003e is well worth a read.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHot Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Entertaining and thoughtful'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Irish Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e---\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHurling is Ireland’s national game – a source of fascination and pride, even to people who have never played it. Ciarán Murphy, a lifelong club footballer, used to be one of those people. Then he spent a summer trying to play hurling with a tiny club in the West Waterford Gaeltacht. Along the way he embarked on a quest to understand the history, geography and mystique of this extraordinary sport.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOld Parish is the club of Ciarán’s father, a club where relatives of his are still deeply involved, and possibly the only place brave (or stupid) enough to take on a forty-one-year-old newcomer to the game. Predictably (and at times hilariously), Ciarán finds out just how difficult a sport hurling is to pick up when you’re in your sporting dotage, up against men who’ve played it since childhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCiarán also explores why hurling is played in only half the country; he investigates the origins of hurling clubs’ antipathy to football and the difficulties of establishing hurling in new areas; he looks into the mysteries of hurley-making; and he seeks to understand why, when a hurling legend refers to the sport as ‘the greatest game ever played by any man’, he has to be taken seriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnyone who has ever watched hurling knows that it is something unique and extraordinary. \u003ci\u003eOld Parish \u003c\/i\u003eexplains why.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin UK","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46677885649137,"sku":"9781405984508","price":13.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0674\/5433\/7265\/files\/9781405984508_p0.jpg?v=1776925155","url":"https:\/\/shop.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781405984508","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","version":"1.0","type":"link"}