The Man Behind the Wire: Not quite warts and all but Dooley Family Memoir is up there with the best GAA books

GAA autobiographies can be a very mixed bag at times. Several of them have tended to frustrate over the years, giving only fleeting glimpses into the person behind the story and in some cases, concentrating too much on the detail of matches.

There have of course been some exceptions to the rule and the recently published Dooley Family Memoir is very much in that category.

It is different than many others in that it focuses on a family rather than an individual. It tells the story of one of Offaly's most famous hurling dynasties, the Dooley's of Clareen – though Joe makes the fairly sensational revelation in it that their home house is actually in Kinnitty parish and not Clareen: that is particularly topical asTullamore had submitted a motion to Convention seeking a change to Offaly's parish rule that would allow children to play with the club of a parent, though they withdrew that on Monday evening.

The Dooley's are synonymous with the Offaly hurling story. Joe burst onto the scene shortly after Offaly's first All-Ireland senior hurling win in 1981; Billy and Johnny were in the golden generation that followed, winning All-Ireland minor hurling medals in the late 1980s and starring as Offaly won All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship titles in 1994 and 1998.

Joe was the elder stateman of the family, a deadly forward, a big day performer and the only Offaly man to play in four All-Ireland senior hurling finals. Billy was instrumental in the 1994 and 1998 All-Ireland wins; a lethal finisher and poacher, his scoring spree in the dying minutes of the come from behind win against Limerick in 1994 remains imprinted on the Offaly psyche. The baby of the trio, Johnny was also the super-star; Offaly's free taker and top scorer during his career, a born match winner and up there very close to or with Brian Whelahan on Offaly's pantheon of greats.

Their story is well worth documenting and it has been done to great effect in a very readable and enjoyable book. When I first saw the book at its Tullamore launch some weeks ago and the way it was structured, jumping from one to the other, my initial reaction was that this will be a disaster and hard to read. I was a country mile off the mark – its format works brilliantly, their story is laid out in a chronological and efficient format and it is one of those rare books that is very hard to put down once you get into it.

Most people will read it in a handful of sittings and that is always a very good sign of a book. Some GAA books tend to be pure ego trips and as a result can be hard to stomach. The Dooley Family Memoir is not this. The trio do recall the good games they played, the scores they got but that detail is nice and facts are facts.

Instead, it outlines the life and times of an ordinary Offaly country, farming family. How they developed their love of hurling from an early stage; the drive that existed in them and how they became some of the best hurlers of their era.

It is essentially about Joe, Billy and Johnny Dooley but it is much more than that. It is also about their parents, Sean and Betty; their siblings, Seamus, Mary, Kieran, Sandra, Patricia and Eilish; their wives and children; their forebears and extended families, their friends. You come away from it with an insight into their upbringing, what made them tick and an understanding of the family.

The book is what it says on the tin: it is about the Dooley family but it is also about Offaly hurling from 1980 more or less through to current times.

It is captivating and compelling. It is not quite warts and all. The book doesn't really go in for harsh criticisms or real open opinions of players they played with and against – for the most part, they speak postively of players and teams, with little negativity.

That is understandable. GAA is an amateur sport and the Dooley's have decided against hanging people out to dry. I often find myself yearning for the truly open GAA book, where nothing is spared and everything is laid out on the table. That book hasn't been written yet.

Yet the Dooley book goes close to the bone. There is an openness to it and a demonstration of humanity that is endearing. They don't show this at the expense of others and even if people yearn for some of this, there is a decency to this that has to be respected. Over their long careers, the Dooley's did fall out with people, have issues but the book is not used to settle scores or bury people. And that is not a bad thing.

Where it does rise its head above many other books is in their openness and honesty about stuff that is personal to them. It is impossible not to feel affected as Joe describes his father Sean being diagnosed with cancer and his premature death at 64 years of age in 2000. Joe's recollection of his father's wish that he wouldn't suffer too much and the pain he subsequently endured would touch the hardest of hearts.

Joe's vivid description of his father going for tests in 1999, the agonising wait for results and the raw emotion when he got bad news is powerfully evocative and moving. It is real powerful stuff.

Similarly, Johnny's description of how he dropped his daughter Hannah on her head while changing her nappy when she was a baby is very moving. He outlines how he could feel her skull crushed in, his fears as she was brought to Beaumount Hospital and were told there was only a 50 percent chance of a good outcome. Fortunately, there was a good outcome to this as Hannah made a complete recovery though the doctors told them there there was “no medical reason as to why she is perfect”!

There are several segments like this where the trio do bare their souls, show their real selves, demonstrate their innermost feelings. And this is a significant part of what makes their book so good.

It starts off dramatically with a tale about how they ended up in a cell in a notorious Thailand jail while on an Offaly team holiday in 2000 after getting into a row when a camera belonging to Joe was stolen. That incident was known about in small circles at that time but never entered the public domain until now - it was the same with their Kinnitty connection which was well known but never spoken of in a public forum.

We aren't given the names of their comrades in arms from that Thailand escapade and that is both a weakness and strength of the book – it would be nice to have a warts and all publication but you also have to respect their desire to protect others and divulge really personal information that only relates to them or their family.

There are other issues that cropped up during their playing career that are either not mentioned at all or passed over in a vague way.

Some of the ones relating to Offaly are understandable. For example, there was controversy in the middle of the 1990s when players embarked on their own sponsorship deal with a Tullamore based tele-communications company. It resulted in the ludicrous situation of some players wearing Carroll Meats tops after a big game in Croke Park, others sporting ones from the phone firm – it all ebbed away in a short period of time but the team of the 1990s were not afraid of confrontation with the County Board and others.

It would be hard to delve into and even remember every issue that cropped up. A line had to be drawn somewhere but there are some things that are not mentioned.

There was a big controversy in 2000 when the Offaly Senior Hurling Championship final was postponed to March and Seir Kieran were at the centre of that. The final had been initially postponed because of weather and then was deferred further when Seir Kieran wouldn't play it over a players' holiday. It is only briefly mentioned in the book with Joe stating that the final ended up being delayed until March. “It had been a very wet winter. Due to a few disputed dates, unplayable pitrches and then the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the final ended up being delayed until the following March.

“In hindsight, if it had gone ahead in December, it would have suited us better than the dry ground in March.”

I for one would certainly have enjoyed a more indepth bit about that whole affair.

Yet those things don't detract from the enjoyment of the book. There is loads of meat in it, plenty of information, stories and opinions to satisfy. They discuss Babs Keatings' departure as Offaly manager in 1998 in considerable detail; Joe makes no bones about his less than brilliant relationship with the County Board during his term as Offaly senior hurling manager and also reveals how he was harder on his own son Shane than others.

They do delve into controversial decisions, substitutions and matches. Controversy over players missing challenge matches or them not taking place in Babs Keating's time are outlined and the reasons for this. John Troy leaving the panel after being replaced during an All-Ireland quarter-final win over Derry in 2000 is there – he subsequently returned after missing the All-Ireland semi-final win over Cork. There was also a major controversy over 1998 captain Hubert Rigney being left off the panel during 2000 and that is not mentioned.

The book gives a great insight into the lives of an ordinary family who became extraordinary because of their hurling deeds and became nationally famous as well as folk heroes in their own community and county.

Johnny gives a moving outline of his knee injuries, how it ended his career sooner than he would have liked and the pressure he felt he came under to play with Seir Kieran when his hurling was effectively over. He also reveals the pressure he was put on to train with Offaly in 2002 and how he felt awkward when then manager Fr Tom Fogarty asked him to sit on the bench with the selectors so “he could bounce things off me during the game”.

There is an abundance of tales and memories and the book concludes with a chapter from their mother and siblings.

Offaly has been blessed with some excellent GAA books. In recent years, Pat Nolan's book on the Furlong family and PJ Cunningham's autobiography of Seamus Darby were great reads. The Dooley Family Memoir is in the same vein – a compelling story about one of Offaly's great families and it will attract a deserved national audience as well. No one should be disappointed to see it in their Christmas stocking.