On the Town: To the members of the Girls' Under 13 camogie team, journalist and columnist Tom Humphries is simply a brilliant coach. The girls who play for St Vincent's GAA Club in Marino, Dublin, include Róisín Dorgan (12), Carol McDonnell (12) and Jodie Canavan (12).
This week they came in to Dublin city centre to cheer at the launch of Booked! (v. carefully) Selected Writings by Tom Humphries, upstairs in the Palace Bar.
"What stands out most of all is the integrity of his work, " said Seán Love, executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland, which will get all royalties from sales of the book. "It's very honest, very funny and amazingly well written," said Love.
Humphries, according to Éanna O'Malley (17), of Belvedere College, "is much more of a fan [of sport] compared to a lot of other journalists, who are cynical". Sam Lynch, a rower from Limerick city who is off to Seville in Spain shortly to continue training for the Olympics, said: "He really catches the essence of what's going on inside our sport, or in any sport. He gives you an idea of what it's like to be inside the sportsman's mind."
Among the guests who came to congratulate Humphries were Eoin Hand, the former manager of the Republic of Ireland soccer team, the team's former striker Niall Quinn and Nicky English, the former Tipperary hurling star.
Booked! (v. carefully) Selected Writings by Tom Humphries is published by TownHouse Dublin.