It's showtime this week as RTE Group Head of Sport Declan McBennett steps into our Glasnevin studio to discuss the station's coverage of the League of Ireland in a wide ranging discussion that covers a lot of bases after a fractious summer centred around the absence of European games from the screens. The issues and challenges of the past, present and future are debated in a robust manner. Meanwhile, the undercard features quick hits with Ian Bermingham and Eoin Toal after their weekend games and there's also a pizza to be won from a brand new box of eighties undiscovered gold.

LOI Central 2021 Ep28 with Declan McBennett, Eoin Toal and Ian Bermingham

#LOICentral is a podcast with opinion, analysis and interviews on all the latest happenings in the  League of Ireland, hosted by Johnny Ward & Dan McDonnell

Sports

Episode 17 sees Johnny flummoxed by a 'Legal Blonde' from a Sunday night on the northside that plunges him into a Monday morning Big Brother dystopian reality. Unlike Clough and Taylor, it's a big week for Damien Duff and his football wife as they keep on keeping on to stay ahead of the posse at the top of the league, we discuss can they stay there and try not to keep mentioning Galway. We welcome Dundalk legend Jurgen Klopp - sorry it’s Dane Massey - into our Oliver studios to ask where his 2016 team would finish in the 2024 table, analyse the state of his former club and take a trip down memory lane ahead of a Kenny v Caulfield reunion. There's cycling in Kerry, pints on the over 35 circuit, Portuguese training camps with Cork City, and a mailbag that includes Shamrock Rovers' loan policy, LOI Central’s erratic social media strategy, and a fresh slant on Johnny's inability to haggle in a designer store. All of this bumper episode is brought to you under the supervision of Future Ticketing, Collar & Cuff, Rascals Brewery, Lilly's Childcare and not any overpriced, over-marketed, over hyped designer label. Overhyped, is just something we wouldn't do!

S08E17 with Dane Massey

We've a warchest of stories and an infusion of intellectual capital in this weeks episode. Johnny introduces the Right shoe diaries to Damien Duff in between bouts of cat strangling orgasms and earth burning Gaza rants on short lived marriages. Dan ruminates on what a world would look like if football was golf, introduces Shelabrations to a new world lexicon and takes Louth Dad jokes to another level. A not quite sexagenarian Johnny McDonnell drops by our Oliver Studios to weigh in on the Stephen Kenny at St. Pat's story and why O'Donnell at Bohs is a logical move. There's the usual mailbag dissections and presidential ruminations and although none of our sponsors do custom made laptop bags, the good people at Collar & Cuff, Future Ticketing, Lilly's Childcare and Rascals Brewery do, to their utmost credit, make all of the chaos seem a little bit ordered. It's episode 16, it's nostalgic, it's giddy and, as always, it's striving for relevance.

S08E16 Shelebration Time & Johnny Mc talks Pat’s

It's Saint Stephens Day and he's back on the grass. Our unexpected Episode 15 captures the events of the last 24 hours with analysis of the Stephen Kenny appointment, his opening press conference and badly photoshopped send ups of a certain Independent sportswriter. There's old magazines, more Brian Kerr chat, Stephen O'Donnell not in the nip, the importance of big personalities and the pressure that extra attention brings. It's a hastily produced bitesize episode here to feed your news addiction with the help of Future Ticketing, Rascals Brewery, Collar & Cuff and Lilys Childcare. Hopefully it makes your Friday at work a little less difficult.

S08E15 Saint Stephens Day

So where do we start? The lads reflect on the maddest week of League of Ireland news since last week, with the Stephen Kenny flirtation with a League of Ireland return prompting a review of our St Patrick's Athletic perceptions. Noel King's 25 day stint as Dundalk manager is over, but the legacy of the day may be a tweet that the internet will never forget. In another bulging mailbag, there's talk of political football and Dail visits, the saving of Tolka Park, a new spate of ten match bans and the mystery of Aurora Borealis - and no you won't find him on Wyscout. We then divert to a man who lit up the league before his departure last year with Jack Moylan dialling in to discuss Damien Duff, LOI watch parties in Lincoln & the truth about League One. As Collar & Cuff, Rascals Brewery, Lilly's Childcare and Future Ticketing scramble their lawyers to pore over the transcripts, our advice is to listen now before something else happens or everything is deleted!

S08E14 Kenny Waiting Game, Dundalk Madness & Meeting Jack Moylan

Dan is back, although he's been outdone by producer Derek on the travel front as we attempt to sprint through the events of another manic week but find the path blocked by some substantial news hurdles. What does Jon Daly's departure say about St Patrick's Athletic? How will Stephen O'Donnell function as Alan Reynolds assistant? Is it 'Noel King's Dundalk' yet? We also have Johnny's chat with Ollie Horgan after a big win at Bohemians, with an unexpected Lionel Richie cameo. Beyond that, we have a packed mailbag with all the usual spin-offs. There's the great Stephen Walsh goalscoring debate, an irrational attack on GAA intercounty 'stars', relegation predictions without the predictions and much more. So with thanks to Rascals Brewery, Collar & Cuff, Future Ticketing and Lily's Childcare, the time has come, to raise the roof and have some fun, let the podcast play on, play on, play on.

LOI Central 2021 Ep28 with Declan McBennett, Eoin Toal and Ian Bermingham

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