Irish Independent Gaelic Games Editor and MacNamee Award winner Colm Keys. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Irish Independent Gaelic Games Editor Colm Keys has won a prestigious MacNamee Award for his book ‘Chasing Sam Maguire’, co-written with GAA statistician Dermot Reilly.
Keys’ and Reilly’s book, published last year, was named as Best GAA Publication for 2023 in the awards list published today by the GAA. In the citation, the duo were praised for having “done the GAA some service”.
The Sam Maguire Cup was first presented in 1928, with Kildare the first recipients. ‘Chasing Sam Maguire’ covers the first 50 years of the cup’s history.
“The scale of the task they undertook – to record in detail the story and the players who have contested every Sam Maguire All-Ireland football final since its 1928 debut was exhausting,” continued the citation.
“The level of research required to trace the story and the stats of the seasons, the games and the players has in several instances saved information from being permanently lost – this is particularly true in the case of recording every club that the players involved represented. The novelty of placing each final against the backdrop of major international and national headlines paints its own unique picture of the evolution of the GAA Championship.”
Other winners included Mayo County Board for its digital strategy, Roscommon County Board for its county senior football final programme, while a picture by David Fitzgerald of the Sportsfile agency titled ‘Where We All Belong’, showing Ballygunner captain Stephen O’Keeffe being hugged by supporter Nicky Kennedy, won Best Photograph.
Legendary journalist John Knox, who worked with the Kilkenny People for almost 50 years, will receive the Hall of Fame Award.
