Cricket story among Book nominations

The contenders for this year's William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award have been announced and among the nominations is Green Wickets - Ireland's Adventures at the 2007 Cricket World Cup by Ed Leahy, journalist with RTE.ie/sport.

Ed spent six weeks following the exploits of Adrain Birrell's side - the highlight being the defeat of Pakistan on Saint Patrick's Day, 2007.

There are 23 books in this year's long list for award with the winner being announced in early December

Being Olympic year there are five athletics books in contention for the award. Of those five two were penned by a couple of Ireland's running greats; Sonia O'Sullivan and Eamonn Coghlan, with both documenting their lives on and off the track.

Gaelic Games is also a dominant sport in this year's contenders with four books up for the award. These include an autobiography of famed GAA referee Paddy Russell, 'Final Whistle', and a look at some of the greats of Gaelic Games who hailed from Connacht in 'The Best of the West' by John Scally.

Horse racing will be well represented in the award again this year. Declan Colley looks at the life of Mouse Morris in Mouse Morris - His extraordinary racing life','while Mick Fitzgerald's autobiography, 'Better than Sex', should also prove to be a strong contender.

Rugby fans will also be interested to see two of Ireland's most successful players represented in this year's competition. Anthony Foley's Axel, A Memoir' looks back at Ireland's most capped player and one of the games most respected competitors. Ronan O'Gara also documents his life in 'My Autobiography,' which looks at his career with Munster and Ireland to date and also his life off the pitch.

This is the third year of the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award. The inaugural award was won by Paul McGrath with Vincent Hogan for Paul's autobiography "Back from the Brink". Last year's award was won by Trevor Brennan with Gerry Thornley for "Heart and Soul", which documented Trevor's highs and lows through his rugby career in Ireland and France.

This year the public will also get a chance to have their say in the award. You can vote for your favourite book on www.irishsportsbookoftheyear.com . The book that receives the highest number of public votes will be the public choice and it will be added to the votes of the eleven judges in determining the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year for 2008.

This year's judging panel is made up of eleven of Ireland's best sports commentators and experts. The panel includes RTE rugby pundit and Newstalk presenter George Hook, RTE's Eamon Dunphy, Today FM and TV3 presenter Matt Cooper and Setanta Sports' Paul Dempsey. For more information on this year's William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year log on to www.irishsportsbookoftheyear.com

William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year 2008 - Long List

The Irishman Who Ran for England by Jim Hogan
Foul Play by Joe Humphries
Dick Fitzgerald: King in a Kingdom of Kings by Tom Looney Trappatoni - A Life in Football by Egon Theiner and Elisabeth Schlammerl
Crashed and Byrned by Tommy Byrne with Mark Hughes
Sonia - My Story by Sonia O'Sullivan with Tom Humphries
Final Whistle - The Paddy Russell Story by Paddy Russell with Jackie Cahill
House of Pain - Through the Rooms of Mayo Football by Keith Duggan
Chairman of the Boards Master of the Mile by Eamonn Coghlan with George Kimball
My Autobiography by Ronan O'Gara with Denis Walsh
The Best of the West - GAA greats of Connacht by John Scally Sport and Society in Victorian Ireland by Tom Hunt
Mouse Morris - His Extraordinary Racing Life by Declan Colley Three Kings - The Battle for Hurling Supremacy by Ralph Riegel Hurling - The Warrior Game by Diarmuid O'Flynn
Faster, Higher, Stronger by Lindie Naughton and Johnny Watterson
The Grand National - The Irish at Aintree by Anne Holland
Green Wickets - Ireland's Adventures at the 2007 Cricket World Cup by Ed Leahy
Ireland's Olympians - Beijing and Beyond by Niall O'Flynn
Touching Greatness by Dermot Gillecce
Better than Sex by Mick Fitzgerald with Donn McClean
Reading the Green - The Inside Line on the Irish in the Ryder Cup by PJ Browne
Axel, A Memoir by Anthony Foley