Game of throw-ins

'Ireland's finest comic creation since Father Ted' Hot PressI was a rugby player with a great future behind me.

A 35-year-old father-of-five with an expanding waistline, who was trying to survive the bloody battlefield we call life.

My son was locked in a violent turf war with a rival Love/Hate tour operator, my daughter was in love with a boy who looked like Justin Bieber, and my old dear was about to walk up the aisle with a 92-year-old billionaire who thought it was still 1936. I was, like, staring down the barrel of middle age with the contentment of knowing that I was the greatest Irish rugby player who no one in Ireland had ever actually heard of.

Until a chance conversation with an old Jesuit missionary made me realize that it wasn't enough. I was guided, as if by GPS, to a muddy field in - let's be honest - Ballybrack. And there I finally discovered my destiny - to keep a struggling Seapoint team in Division 2B of the All Ireland League. Or die trying. 'Hides a heart of darkness beneath the layers of craic and great gas and great story-telling and human warmth.

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is Ireland!' Irish Times'A cracking and hilariously witty read' Irish Independent'Book after book, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly delivers the goods ...

Howard is in a league of his own' Sunday Business Post