Currans cake book to be launched on friday night

 

Colourful sports star Shane Curran will launch his fascinating memoir tomorrow night (Friday, October 24) in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone at 8pm.

The book, titled ‘Cake’ (Curran’s nickname for many years), is written in conjunction with Sunday Independent journalist Tommy Conlon.

In an age when sportsmen have perfected the art of saying nothing and suppressing any trace of personality, Shane 'Cake’ Curran is a beacon of light: passionate, outspoken, utterly himself.

From the moment when, in the 1989 Connacht minor final, he controversially poached a penalty kick a teammate had lined up, he has brought mayhem and joy to every arena in which he has performed. Now, he brings that same fearlessness to his autobiography - one of the most distinctive Irish sporting memoirs ever published.

'Cake’ is the story of a Castlerea lad who made it as a swashbuckling two-code goalkeeper - for Roscommon in Gaelic football and for Athlone Town in soccer - and crowned his career with an All-Ireland club championship title for St Brigid’s in 2013.

It is also the story of an ambitious young businessman whose entrepreneurial streak was evident from the age of 13, when he took a job selling shoes; who designed and marketed a new kicking tee for goalkeepers; and who now runs a successful global flood-defence business - a fitting line of work for a goalkeeper.

Brave, honest and hilarious, and full of entertaining stories and challenging observations on the state of the GAA and the world, Cake tells the story of an Irish sportsman who has lived the dream in his own utterly distinctive way.

As acclaimed actor and Co. Roscommon native Chris O’Dowd said of Curran: “He could save a penalty, and score a 45, but at the same time he’d be just as happy to ride a bull into a church.”

*See this week’s Westmeath Independent for Shane Curran’s regular sports column. Please note, in that column it is incorrectly stated that the book launch is on Saturday night when it should have said Friday night – we’ll blame the gremlins for that one!