A Different View with Dave O’Connell

I’ll be honest – most ‘autobiographies’ of sports people or music stars leave me cold; they’re clichéd, vacuous, predictable and rarely reveal more than you’d easily find out in five seconds on the internet.

But two came my way recently that completely defy that notion – and if you find yourself still with a book token or two to cash in after the Christmas, you could do a lot worse than get your hands on one or both of them.

The first is from one of Galway’s greatest ever footballers, former Irish international goalkeeper David Forde – and the other is from Cork musician Joe Philpott, once part of Ireland’s next big thing, Rubyhorse, and now a cornerstone of the wonderful White Horse Guitar Club.

At first glance, they hardly sit on the same shelf – but in truth they do, because, while the subject matter is clearly a million miles apart, what they both share is an insight and an unflinching honesty of the worlds that the authors know best.

First off, to declare – I know neither of them, except by reputation. And I admired their respective talent and fortitude before ever buying their books.

What I came out of both with was a greater knowledge of the person themselves but also of their profession – and that’s an achievement because I thought I knew a fair bit about both already.

David Forde’s cleverly titled book, Being the One, is genuinely up there with Eamon Dunphy’s iconic Only A Game?

On one level, it tells his story of his career that took him from Newcastle United (the one on the Westside run by the great John Joyce as opposed to the one in the North-East of England) through his time with Galway Hibs, Galway United, Barry Town, West Ham United, Derry City, Cardiff City, and most of all Millwall.

He also writes movingly of his Irish caps – coming at a stage that, even for a goalkeeper, was late-ish in his career – but this is far more than a box-ticking exercise about the clubs he played for, the stars he faced, the craic in the dressing room and the odd after-dinner anecdote.