For the first time, Seamus Darby, the man who scored the most famous goal in the history of the GAA, puts the record straight on the commonly held belief that drink and neglect of his business following that celebrated shot led to his descent into penury.
As the then 31-year-old left the Croke Park pitch in 1982 after preventing Kerry from completing the five-in-a-row of All Irelands, a man who embraced him in victory told him: “Darby, you’ll never see a poor day.”
How wrong that fan was.
By the time he had left his thirties, Darby had been forced to emigrate to London with only a £50 note given to him by a friend for company.
‘About That Goal’ traces the heart-rending vicissitudes of a man thrust into national headlines who then had to deal with the fallout of losing his business and his marriage before returning to Ireland to buy his own pub and learning how to treat triumph and tragedy with equanimity.
Ghostwriter PJ Cunningham is a former sports editor with the Irish Independent and Sunday Tribune and is a former Offaly panellist under Eugene McGee. His company, Ballpoint Press, is the publisher of ‘About That Goal.’