Clash

The first of two novels in a planned series, Clash is a fast paced sports thriller about an eccentric Irish millionaire who takes the fast and tough Irish sport of hurling and transforms it into a ruthless gladiatorial contest, spearheaded by a team he calls “The Danann”. John-Joe Crosby, a skilled traditional hurler from Kerry is swept up in this dangerous game and catapulted into a world in which the safety and even the lives of the players are not as important as the TV and internet ratings.

He falls in love with Kitty and both of them have to run for their lives when they discover proof of the millionaire’s graft and corruption associated with a new sports stadium in Dublin. When John-Joe helps form a hurling team to face the brutal Danann in a battle for the future of the game, it is not intended that he survive the match. Or that Kitty takes the evidence to the authorities.

Author Dermod Judge lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has been involved in story telling in theatre and film for a large proportion of his professional life, and has written over ten full length feature film scripts as well as twelve professionally produced stage and radio plays. Dermod has won a variety of local and international awards for his video making and was the Chair of the South African Scriptwriter’s Association for nine years in which he was awarded lifetime membership. The sport featured within the novel is one of the fastest ball games in the world - Irish hurling which has been played for centuries with a supple ash stick and a hard, leather ball.