The Lost Sportswriter: A Life Up Close with Irish Sporting Greatness

' The Lost Sportswriter encapsulates everything about covering sport in Ireland – it has lovely bits and cranky bits, events that leave you exultant, people that leave you bewildered. Brilliant.' MALACHY CLERKIN

'Tells a story that is pretty much of sporting Ireland of the last 50 years. Reading has been like taking a trip back in time to my youth and to the sportspeople that shaped it.' KEITH WOOD

There was a time when a journalist could walk straight into a dressing room after the final whistle and the great sport stories were told through the voices of those who lived them. A time of unfiltered access and trust, this was the world Vincent Hogan entered as a young reporter.

In The Lost Sportswriter Hogan reflects on a remarkable 43-year career at the heart of Irish sport. From the relentless rhythm of newspaper deadlines to the fading intimacy of player relationships, he charts the transformation of sports journalism from rich, personality driven storytelling to today's carefully managed, PR-shaped narratives. Where once windows were opened into lives, now stories are too often assembled from soundbites, archives and data.

Wry and candid, Hogan laments not just the loss of access, but perhaps the loss of something greater: a community, a connection and a way of seeing. More than a memoir, The Lost Sportswriter is a tribute to a lost craft and a powerful reminder of what sport, and its storytelling, used to be.