From the publisher:
Glory Nights and Heartache is a book for anyone who has stood on a terrace, celebrating a victory or swearing they are finished with football only to always be drawn back. It brings together writers who love Irish football up close as supporters. Starting with one match, each essay expands to take in the rivalries, disappointments and the rare, unforgettable nights when everything went right. It details the experience of following the Republic of Ireland men’s team from Amsterdam to Kazakhstan and how the women’s team went from obscurity to playing in a World Cup finals.
Whether examining the rivalry between Dublin clubs, how regional towns and cities identify with the teams that represent them, or the experience of black players in Ireland, this unique book, written by supporters for fellow supporters, captures the essence of the game in Ireland. Here are tales of family and friendship, glorious highs and financial collapses, and hopes that refuse to disappear. Funny, moving and brutally honest, it captures why following Irish football gets under your skin and never lets you go.
The author:
Dermot Bolger is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. His fifteen novels include The Family on Paradise Pier, An Ark of Light and most recently Hide Away. He has been Writer Fellow in Trinity College, a Fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy and, briefly, the fellow who was goalkeeping coach to the Shelbourne Under 11s. His twenty plays include Last Orders at the Dockside and an adaptation of Ulysses, both staged by the Abbey Theatre. His trilogy of plays, In High Germany (1990), The Parting Glass (2010) and Home, Boys, Home (2024) follow the lives of the three Irish soccer supporters, in Ireland and abroad, as they reunite at Irish soccer matches across the decades. His most recent book, Imperfect Beings, was published in 2026.
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