How Shane Lowry helped spark Brian Cowen recovery after stroke
Shane Lowry has worked some miracles on the golf course but his memorable win in the British Open helped spark the first sign of recovery of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen after a stroke.
A new book, Brian Cowen - Anatomy of a Taoiseach, recounts the incident.
Brian Cowen had a stroke in 2019 and was in a coma for weeks. The book describes when fellow Offaly man Shane Lowry strolled down the 18th fairway to win the British Open, “Cowen wriggled his little finger”.
“For the first time since his stroke, Brian Cowen had shown signs of brain function,” the book says of his reaction to the win by the Clara man.
Shane’s father Brendan and Cowen lined out on underage Offaly teams in a formidable forward line that also featured Matt Connor.
A large gathering was at the Tullamore Court Hotel on Friday night when the book was launched by local historian Michael Byrne.
The book is described as an insightful, searing and clear-eyed account of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his time as leader of the country during Ireland's greatest crisis.
From the author of the bestselling Haughey, Gary Murphy returns with a major reassessment of Ireland's most turbulent political era.
Gary Murphy is Professor of Politics at Dublin City University. He has written extensively on the politics of modern Ireland and is the author or co-author of eight books and dozens of articles and book chapters.
In this richly textured account of Brian Cowen's inexorable rise to the office of Taoiseach and his dramatic fall, Murphy offers a ground-breaking portrait of a man and an era that defined modern Ireland.
This rigorously researched study examines the decisions, pressures and circumstances that shaped Brian Cowen's 1,036 days as Taoiseach, a period that coincided with the collapse of Ireland's banking system and the state's entry into an EU-IMF programme.