RADFORD -- RU alumnus Fiachra Sheridan recently released his first novel, The Runners, which follows the adventures of two 13-year-old boys growing up in inner city Dublin in the 1980s.

The book officially launched May 20 at a gathering at Larkin Community College in Dublin, where Sheridan teaches mathematics.

Sheridan said the inspiration for The Runners came to him when he began working in the inner city area of Dublin, where he grew up.

“I left there in 1990 and returned to teach in the local high school in 2003," Sheridan said. “Inner city kids are very different from suburban ones, and the area in Dublin in which I grew up would be considered socially and economically disadvantaged. The spirit of the people in this area is incredible, and working there rekindled the love I had for the inner city when I was a child in the 1970s and 1980s. There was a very important story that I felt needed telling about Dublin in 1985.”

The author said his next book will be about a young man who leaves Ireland to pursue his dream of a soccer scholarship in America at a university in Virginia, a topic with which Sheridan is greatly familiar.

Sheridan, who grew up in Ballybough in Dublin’s north inner city and is the son of renowned Irish playwright Peter Sheridan, attended RU in 1992 and 1993 and played soccer for the Highlanders.

“My dream was always to go to an American university,” Sheridan said. “Ever since I saw the Chicago Bears win the Super Bowl in 1985, and the New York Mets win the World Series in 1986, I dreamed about going to the greatest country on earth. I had posters of William 'The Refrigerator' Perry and Darryl Strawberry on my bedroom wall.”

Sheridan said he studied a range of general education classes while attending RU. “I remember a brilliant teacher -- Tim Poland -- that I had for English and a brilliant teacher -- Samuel Zeakes -- who taught biology, even though I was very limited at the subject.” Sheridan transferred his credits to the American University in Dublin, where he graduated with an honors degree in international business.