A listing and celebration of people who have established Martial Arts and contributed to the advancement of Martial Arts in Ireland.

“Armbands and Shadows” is a coming-of-age story soaked in sweat, sarcasm, and the long shadows of history. Dan Connolly, a quiet lad from a faded Lancashire mill town, crosses the Irish Sea in 1981 to work with cousins he’s never met, in a country he’s only known through rebel songs and warnings whispered at family tables. He arrives with a kit bag, stories of men he never knew, and the vague hope of belonging somewhere — anywhere. Thrown into the chaotic charm of Drogheda, Dan finds unlikely kinship in Seamus — a red-headed, fast-talking survivor of the care system with a battered van, a collection of Wolfe Tones tapes, and a talent for hiding pain behind punchlines. Together, they drift through building sites, boxing gyms, late-night dancehalls and quiet graveyards, tripping over the ghosts of their grandfathers while trying to outrun the weight of their own pasts. Set against the backdrop of a divided Ireland, Armband and Shadow is equal parts bruising and tender — a novel laced with dark Irish humour, broken fences, and the quiet courage it takes to choose who you want to be when no one’s watching. Because sometimes the fight isn’t to win — it’s just to stay standing. “Not all fighters wear gloves — and not all wars make the history books.” — a novel of bruised knuckles, buried pasts, and quiet rebellion.