Pat spillane autobiography vs biography

FOR THE PAST fifty years, the name of Pat Spillane has been front and centre of Irish sports discourse.

His achievements were on a skyscraper scale. Twelve Munster titles, eight All-Irelands and nine All-Stars speaks of a career that that cast-iron excellence and consistency throughout.

But it also discounts the three years he lost with a cruciate knee injury.

Thirty years as a pundit then followed when he enraged and entertained in equal measure.

And yet, he kept the bigger part of himself away from view.

Content to play the caricature for the public eye, Spillane released a couple of books that traded on after-dinner speaker yarns and quips, but without any depth.

However, ‘In the Blood – My life in and out of football’, ghost-written by Michael Moynihan, brings us closer to how he is, where he comes from and what matters.

And that is; the educator who decided to bring a class to the tri