{"product_id":"practical-distiller-book-samuel-mcharry-9781023124980","title":"The Practical Distiller","description":"\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award, Irish Book Awards 2025\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Entertaining and thoughtful'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Irish Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'There aren't enough of these books ... The whole thing is a delight' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMalachy Clerkin, Irish Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e--- \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHurling is Ireland's national game - a source of fascination and pride, even to people who have never played it. Ciar n 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOld Parish is the club of Ciar n'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), Ciar n 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCiar n 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnyone who has ever watched hurling knows that it is something unique and extraordinary. \u003ci\u003eOld Parish \u003c\/i\u003eexplains why.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52962540880145,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52962541830417,"sku":"NIN9781023124980","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781023124980.jpg?v=1786115806","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/practical-distiller-book-samuel-mcharry-9781023124980","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}