Plenty of books pass over my desk and occasionally there’s one that’s a bit special and that I’m delighted to share with our readers. In this case, it’s Carrig to Croke Park: A History of Canovee GAA. Now I’m no GAA expert, and I had no idea what part of the country Canovee was in, but I know hard work and dedication when I see it, and plenty of both went into the making of this book.

I know this because it’s just over 10 years ago since David Thompson and I sat down to produce A History of Limerick IFA. We had no idea what we let ourselves in for – if we had, I doubt we’d ever have volunteered. But with a 50th anniversary looming, producing the book took months out of our lives as we tried to get it finished in time.

Looking through the pages now, it is so sad to see how many of those featured are no longer with us. But at least we were in time to record their memories and stories, and now it is up to others to build on that.

That’s why I have huge respect for any individual or group who sets out to put together 250 pages packed with text and correctly captioned photographs of any parish or association in their county. In this case, it was the local GAA club, which is obviously very dear to the people of Canovee in West Cork.

It was Con Dunne from near Macroom who sent me the book, along with a lovely handwritten letter. He is credited as editor, and a fine job he has made of it. Work first started on the book over 20 years ago, but it was never finished. The work resumed in 2011 and the book was finally launched last May.

According to Con, technology made a huge difference in how information and photographs were gathered. Twenty years ago they had to travel to Bantry to look through the Southern Star archives. Now all they had to do was log on to www.irishnewsarchive.com to check for the same information.

If I had my way, every household in Canovee would have several copies of the History of Canovee GAA. They’d have them for their children and grandchildren. They’d be there for family members who live far away from the parish and who on opening this book will be drawn back home to a great day when they were part of something special.

Yes, producing this kind of history is hard work. No matter how much you try, someone or something will be left out and there’ll always be people who think they could have done a better job. But they are so worthwhile and now technology makes gathering information so much easier. So look around your parish, see what needs recording and put your hand up to help do it. Well done Con and all who were involved. The book can be bought in Macroom and the surrounding areas.