Bennekerry teacher nominated for An Post Book of the year award

Bennekerry teacher nominated for An Post Book of the year award

Author John Kelly, right, is congratulated by Carlow GAA Communications Officer, Ger Doyle at his recent book launch in Palatine GAA Club

BENNEKERRY resident John Kelly’s book, The GAA Uncovered: The History of the GAA in Match Programmes, has been nominated for An Post’s Irish Book Awards 2025.

John’s book, which was published by Gill Books in September, was nominated in the TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year category.

Other books in his category include Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride’s For and Against a United Ireland, and Manchán Magan’s, Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun).

In The GAA Uncovered, John chronicles the evolution of GAA match programmes from the revolutionary period to the present and analyses what the different changes and trends reveal about the game’s changing position within Irish society.

John, who is the principal of the Bishop Foley Memorial National School in Carlow, is a lifelong GAA match programme collector who has a private collection of over 5,000 items.

He is due to give a free lunchtime talk about his book in Carlow County Library on Tullow Street on Friday 14 November at 1 pm as part of the ‘Lunchtime in the Library’ event series. Admission is free but booking is required - email library@carlowcoco.ie to reserve a seat.

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