Children’s book a labour of love for Dromore man

BEDTIME stories were part of the nightly routine for former Dromore footballer Hugh McNulty and his sons, and now he’s gone the extra step of putting pen to paper and authored a newly published children’s book.

‘The Story Monster’ is based on a fairytale McNulty concocted and perfected when settling Darragh (7) and Micheál (5) down for the night, and he decided to leave his comfort zone and take the considerable step of transforming a work of imagination into an actual body of work.

It’s now available on Amazon and other outlets but McNulty, who coaches the Dromore senior football team, explains that the primary reason behind the venture was creating a keepsake for his children.

He said, “I haven’t done this with the intention of making a book that will sell loads of copies, it’s a keepsake for my boys as much as anything else.

“I never told them I was doing it, and when I handed the book to Darragh, he said ‘The Story Monster!’ and you should have seen his reaction. He opened it up and saw it was ‘for Darragh and Micheál’ on the inside cover. Social media wouldn’t be my scene but it’s the type of video you’d love to put online, the reaction was really good.”

Writing a book was new terrain for the personal trainer by profession, but Hugh says he would have “regretted” not giving it a go.

“I was in two minds about whether to go ahead with it or not, but I’d have regretted it if I hadn’t. It’s so out of my lane but there’s no harm in that sometimes.

“It was just a wee story, it was only when I wrote it down that I tried to make the sentences rhyme. I didn’t really know what I was at so I googled publishers for children’s books.

“I sent it off to ten of them and three or four came back and said they were interested.

“I thought at that point I might as well go for it. It was totally new ground for me and the publishing company sorted out a lot of it.”

McNulty expected a bit of good-natured slagging when word got out that he’d penned a children’s book, but he says people on the ground have been massively supportive. He even has a second book in the pipeline – ‘The Chip Thief’ – this time based on a
story he tells around the dinner table.

“I wouldn’t be great at putting myself out there, I like being in the background but the reaction has been unbelievable. You’d expect a bit of ribbing from the lads I used to play football with and there’s been a few Roald Dahl quips!

“But the support’s been unbelievable to be honest.”