01
THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER KNOCKED DOWN
Rowman & Littlefield, June 2018
“In The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down, Rónán Mac Con Iomaire has captured Seán Mannion’s essence. Mannion’s story is not so much about talent squandered, about how surrounding himself with better people would have given him a better chance to be an enduring world champion. It’s about a man who stayed true to his roots, his language, his culture, his family and, ultimately, his soul. It is satisfyingly life-affirming.”
Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe columnist & author
“Seán Mannion was a great fighter and an even greater person. This book captures the incredible story of a proud Irishman and a proud Ros Muc man. A man with a granite chin and a heart of gold.”
Micky Ward, former WBA light welterweight world champion, immortalized in the Academy Award-winning movie, The Fighter
In 1977, looking to fulfill a dream as a pro boxer, 17-year-old Sean Mannion flew into Boston from Ireland, straight into a world of gun smugglers, drug dealers, and the world’s best boxers. By 1983, Mannion was ranked the number one US light middleweight boxer.
In The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down: The Life of Boxer Seán Mannion, Rónán Mac Con Iomaire recounts Mannion’s struggles and triumphs in and out of the ring. Despite dubious management and the attention of the Boston Irish Mafia, Mannion quickly climbed his way up from the lower rungs of one of the most competitive weight divisions in boxing history. This biography is more than a boxing story; it’s a personal story that also intersects with notorious crime figures, world-class fighters, and several pivotal moments in history.
Featuring the likes of Micky Ward, Pat Nee, Marty Walsh, and Kevin Cullen, The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down provides an inside perspective on the boxer, the fighting culture of his era, and on 1980s South Boston.
The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down is published by Rowman & Littlefield and is available here.
ROCKY ROS MUC
Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2013
Ar an 19 Deireadh Fómhair 1984, throid Seán Ó Mainnín as Ros Muc, Conamara, do chraobh an domhain i Madison Square Garden, Nua Eabhrac.
Bhí Ó Mainnín tar éis a bhealach a dhéanamh aníos dréimire na dornálaíochta, sa ngrád meáchain ba iomaíche i stair na dornálaíochta, do dheis ar chraobh mheánmheáchain éadrom an domhain i gcoinne Mike McCallum. Níor éirigh leis.
Insíonn Rocky Ros Muc scéal atá brónach agus barrúil ag an am céanna, ag cur síos ar an mbealach gur éalaigh Ó Mainnín ó ghreim Whitey Bulger i South Boston chun craobh mheánmheáchain éadrom Mheiriceá a bhaint amach i 1983, ar an mbaint a bhí ag mafia na hIodáile lena choinneál amach as príosún agus na conarthaí a shínigh sé do throideanna i gcoinne Sugar Ray Leonard agus Tommy Hitman Hearns, troideanna nár tharla ar chúis amháin nó ar chúis eile.
57 troid ghairmiúil a bhí ag Seán Ó Mainnín. Níor leag duine ar bith riamh go talamh é.
Tá an leabhar foilsíthe ag Cló Iar-Chonnacht agus le ceannach anseo.
02
New Writer
of the Year
Oireachtas Literary Awards
2014
ROCKY ROS MUC
Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2013
Rocky Ros Muc (CIC) became the fastest-selling Irish-language book ever when published in 2013.
On October 19, 1984, Seán Mannion from Ros Muc, Connemara, fought for the world title in Madison Square Garden, New York.
Mannion had climbed his way up from the lower rungs of one of the most competitive weight divisions in boxing history, for a crack at the light middleweight title against Mike McCallum.
Rocky Ros Muc is a story of dark and light, of violence both within and outside of the four corners of the boxing ring. The book traces Seán Mannion’s development as a boxer among Whitey Bulger’s henchmen in South Boston to his winning the US light middleweight title in 1983, the Italian mafia’s role in keeping him out of prison and the contracts he signed to fight Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hitman Hearns, fights that didn’t happen for what were tragicomical reasons.
Seán Mannion had 57 professional fights. Not one opponent managed to knock him to the canvas.
Rocky Ros Muc is published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht and is available here.
03
AN GHLUAISEACHT
Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2019
In 1969, a protest against the recording of a TV quiz show in the west of Ireland quickly escalated into a movement that led to baton charges, bombing allegations and an attack on the Taoiseach’s car.
More significantly, it led to the reshaping of the future of the Irish language and of the communities in which the language was still the daily spoken form of communication.
The story of Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta [Gaeltacht Civil Rights Movement] is captured in An Ghluaiseacht by Rónán Mac Con Iomaire, to be published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht on the 50th anniversary of the movement in 2019.