It is hard work being a parent of sporty kids. Neither that Fiona nor myself would have it any other way, of course.

With both of us harbouring an obsession with sport, it is always assumed to be inevitable that our children would have an athletic interest, a notion that sometimes can lead to the opposite.

Happily our two children Andrew and David have followed our interests – and yes spending their early lives at the sides of various pitches has certainly helped – in the sports that we pursued, hockey, rugby and cricket.

A lot of the cameras that one finds at the side of a given pitch, will often have the focus on the child of the photographer and this snapper is no different.

So the images that I have chosen are personal in that they are primarily of the lads but both pictures carry other messages.

The first one is of David playing for Clontarf 6ths against Rush in 2016 in his first year of adult competition. I should say that in 2016 David was 13 and it has to be acknowledged that he was not very tall and very slight, the genes that his parents passed on to him ensured so.

It was a low scoring game; David snuck a few wickets in the first innings and was at the crease for the winning of the game. Playing for Rush was a C McCrum (no, not the Charles McCrum who played for Ireland but Cameron) and he was a big lad.

Throughout the day I had tried to manipulate a picture of David and Charles in close proximity but I had not been successful. However, after the winning runs were scored, David who was at the crease, headed out towards the nets in Castle Avenue to shake hands with Charles. Finally in the last moment, I had my shot. Respect – size not an issue.

My second photo is of our elder son Andrew, just after he had scored his debut senior 50 in the Irish Senior Cup against Carrickfergus in 2019.

In itself, any 50 is worth celebrating, all around the world, batsmen raise their bats in acknowledgement of the applause that usually follows, a debut senior one is especially meaningful.

However this one carried even more significance.

April 2019, my mother had died after a short illness, a great sports fan herself, in particular she had a great love of Spurs and bizarrely had raced against the great Fanny Blankers Koen – admittedly a fairly pregnant Blankers Koen.

However, she saved her greatest support for her grandchildren and she had plenty to support in all her 11 grandchildren’s endeavours.

After her death, Andrew decided that his 50s or 100s would be an acknowledgement to her memory and her support.

When he passed the mark against Carrickfergus, I knew what was coming and was ready, though I probably needed to clear my own eyes first....