Brilliant, bruising
Donal Ryan
Sunday Independent
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Provides many revealing insights into the mind of a born winner
Sunday Business Post
A stunning achievement
Irish Mail on Sunday
Honest, fair and devoid of self-pity ... reflects on his life without ... Read morea shred of hypocrisy or recrimination
Paul Rees
Observer
Engaging, honest and insightful. Terrific
Ryle Nugent An exceptional book ... tremendously honest
Matt Cooper
Today FM
He is a standard-bearer for the country and someone whose principles, moral compass, ideals and heroic virtue make us wish our children would aspire to be someone like him
Neil Francis
Sunday Independent
A fantastic book
Sean O'Rourke
RTE Radio One
O'Connell has emptied the tank here. ... What has come out ... is a psychological profile that is almost shocking at times in what it reveals about the bloody single-mindedness of the competitive gene
Irish Independent
Absorbing and compelling ... The O'Connell who dominates this book is the one who becomes fixated on the mentality of champions
Diarmaid Ferriter
Irish Times
It is pure O'Connell ... Players and coaches from all sports will have the pencil out, finding nuggets
Kieran Shannon
Irish Examiner
Revelatory ... Unflinchingly charts his personal evolution ... He is not at all easy on himself
Keith Duggan
Irish Times
A fascinating insight into what has driven him and how his approach to the game changed over time. The inner tensions of possibly the most intense competitor of his generation are laid bare in The Battle.
Shane Horgan
Sunday Times
Fascinating ... the recollections of life with the British and Irish touring team leap out as highlights
Daily Mail
Excellent ... [an] eye-opening account of the never-ending battles he fought
Rugby World
I found The Battle entrancing
Stephen Jones
Sunday Times
The intense physicality of his rugby upbringing is an abiding theme ... along with humour, the craic and an extensive knowledge of how teams work
Paul Hayward
Daily Telegraph
The years of O'Connell and O'Driscoll were as close to a golden age as ever Ireland will get and O'Connell's book tells you how it all happened ... It should be mandatory for every Irish squad member to read O'Connell's book to better understand what it takes to make a team
David Walsh
Sunday Times
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