LOI Central

It's gotten to the stage where we needed a referee for the podcast and we found the ideal candidate in Tomás Connolly, an experienced whistler turned administrator who has now turned 'to the dark side' by becoming an assessor. We brought him in to answer the many queries we've faced on yellow cards, relations with managers, grief from players and the overall standard of our men and women in the middle. Damien Duff has been vocal on the issue and he spoke to Dan after the Easter Monday games brought down the curtain on a busy double header. Our mailbag allows us to analyse the Virgin pilot, a bad weekend for Derry and Dundalk, Wispa comebacks, transgender pronouns, French accents, the market for Johnny and Dan's men's health pod and Enoch Burke's quest for Dave Rogers! All overseen and adjudicated by our good friends at Future Ticketing, Rascals Brewery and Collar and Cuff. It's another great pod interview and just like a ref, we can't believe he's given it!!

Back in studio for this week's show and the lads are joined by League of Ireland legend and Malaysian Marvel, Colin Hawkins. Colin talks for the first time about his recent life changing illness and the journey he's been on since that fateful diagnosis earlier this year. On his road to recovery he continues to find time to check in on the league and gives us his views for the year ahead. Meanwhile we have the usual hodge podge of regular features, the newly stung Collar & Cuff mailbag, our Rascals Brewery 'Quizness', coleslaw and curry, Craggy Island VAR, goalkeepers daydreams and a weird man with glasses hanging around outside. Thanks as always to Future Ticketing et al for making it all worthwhile. It's episode 8 and it's not raining!

Another late breaking news story tries to bamboozle us but as usual we got the kids to bed early and get to the story of the day as Keith Long is named as the new Waterford manager after Danny Searle's abrupt exit. Who'd be a manager? It turns out that Ciaran Kilduff is very open to going down that route and the former Dundalk striker joined us this week to catch up with his good pal and ex-teammate Robbie Benson who is now open minded to dabbling in that business in the future. We discussed their old manager Stephen Kenny's week, the changing face of League of Ireland dressing rooms, and the challenge of navigating boardrooms...and board games. There's a first date with Virgin, Johnny's alternate reality as a well groomed Kent Brockman, a very stylish Collar & Cuff mailbag with a new theme tune and of course a tip of the hat and a chink of the glass to Rascals Brewery and Future Ticketing. Forget Succession. This is the new episode you've been waiting for.

Its episode 6 and with our hosts being at opposite ends of the country means we're zooming again. It's Premier League break time as we digest the season so far. We also check in on Kerry FC with Billy Dennehy on managing expectations and Jonathan Hannafin on achieving a dream that means much more to him than a chance meeting with Johnny in a Dublin pub last year. Our ever expanding mailbag touches on artificial pitches, recurring referee questions and when Shamrock Rovers start becomes a crisis. There's chance encounters with fast food at 2am, Johnny's fake social moustache, 15 year old Bohemian stars, and an extended look at the first division. All of this cross country repartee comes courtesy of Future Ticketing, Collar & Cuff and Rascals Brewery. Its episode 6 and its a bit on the early side...

It's the third anniversary of the CoVid lockdown and we're back on Zoom as Johnny almost heads to Cheltenham for his annual week of work. There's all kinds of zany on this weeks show as we ask if Shamrock Rovers lost the killer instinct and whether it’s good for fans and players to talk. Johnny and Dan caught up with Rory Gaffney to talk Tolka, title races and… Tuam slang. Later, Sligo Rovers (or Rovers) manager John Russell dialled in to discuss recruitment, management stress and the inevitable Galway United related tangents. Our bumper Collar & Cuff mailbag deals with the usual diverse and eclectic mix of the sublime, the ridiculous, and whether St. Pat's are in crisis. All this Saint Patrick's week malarky is because of the continued and staunch support of Future Ticketing, Rascals Brewery and Collar and Cuff even if Johnny thinks its Easter already! So put away the creme eggs for now and tune into episode five. It's not like you've work in the morning!

In an airport themed show, Johnny flies in from London to eventually find Dan and catch up with our old pal Sean Boyd, the Shelbourne striker, who jets to the UK this week to solve his injury problems although he explains that the ailment didn’t prevent him from standing by his men in the Oriel tunnel on Monday. We get the lowdown on Shels life, cup regrets and the opponents that have impressed. Dan was in Dalymount to chat with Freddie Draper, the Englishman in Drogheda with good words and golf clubs in locker. Beyond that our mailbag discusses Saints woes, the ups and downs of the Rovers (both Sligo and Shamrock) and the inevitable pressure on JW to declare the title race over. Be sure to use Future Ticketing and Collar and Cuff for all your travelling needs and enjoy a Rascals Beer on board. So its final call for this turbulent flight, that inevitably will be late arriving.

It's episode 3 and we may have peaked! Do NOT miss our interview with Derry City's, Mark Connolly. From his Gaelic Football roots to a heart wrenching story about returning home, Mark gives us an open and honest reflection on his career and life to date. After Zooming with Mark we invited the table topping Bohemian manager Declan Devine in to cast his eye over the opening weeks. He tells us about his Craig David week, the squad, his thoughts on Pat Fenlon, the Dalymount ambitions and where and when his fiftieth will be. We dig deep into the Collar & Cuff mailbag to explore your thoughts on dodgy boxes, empty seats, the wheels on the bus, and why we don't broadcast twice a week. All of this couldn't be done without Future Ticketing, Rascals Brewery and Collar and Cuff on hand to keep the electricity on. Its episode 3 and its a banger!

Where do you start with the Week 1 review? We had Hulk Hogan style walkouts in Wexford, Norma Foley and Niall Quinn seeking out VIP paparazzi in Kerry, Athlone's new Bayside High class and the morals of LOI Season Pass on your dodgybox.

After the new improved silk lined, hand stitched Collar & Cuff mailbag David McMillan and Ollie Cahill stopped by. McMillan, the European award winning goalscorer, who for so long has been the architect at Dundalk exclusively announces that he's retiring from the game to be an, erm, architect! He casts his eye over his career and his architects eye over Oriel!

Ollie weighs in on LOI marketing, his campaign for an LOI Red Zone, and almost gives us an answer on the GOAT question Shels or Dundalk. It's a high octane, Future Ticketing powered deep dive into the excitement around the games being back and Rascals Brewery are showing our lucky quiz winner around their class brewery and a few tasters as well. Put down that Nutella, its Pancake Day LOI Central, and it's as tasty as a cold Rascals brew.

It's the 7 year itch! We scratch the surface of the upcoming season in episode 1 - 'The Return of the Pod' . After Johnny's winter in the lingerie section of Brown Thomas and Dan's Qatari World Cup adventure, not much has changed on Planet Pod. Johnny still has high hopes for Galway, Dan still reckons this is the biggest season ever, and 90's goth-pop and R&B makes the inevitable return. But to help the dynamic duo get back down to the reality of what's coming up we've asked Mark Rossiter and John Martin to help with an analysis of the comings and goings over the last few months to help predict how this season of all seasons will pan out. We swipe right on transfer tinder and the saga of Dundalk's multiple logins, we ask "Can Derry take Rovers?", we look at the return of 'older' managers to challenge Johnny's favourite law firm, and there's the Mono Stand, cash wages, a bumper bumper mailbag and an almost-epic Collar & Cuff competition.

As usual by the end of the hour in studio there still isn't a concrete answer and nothing is indeed delivered. We'd bring you the truth but we reckon you couldn't handle it so you'll have to make do with the rest.

It's a Future Ticketing, Collar & Cuff sponsored, rascal of an opening night and other than Galway winning the First Division you'll have to make up your own mind.

Right before Dan goes to Qatar and Johnny loses another laptop we've gathered for the last dance. Regular sideman, Pat Fenlon is joined in studio by the man who once saved his job! Yes, none other than Eoin Doyle, who missed the Mendoza Line by half a goal this season but will be fresher next season after dragging his heart around St Anne's Park in the off season trying to remember who Stevie Nicks is. Alan Reynolds is f*cking live from Derry where low key celebrations and pre season planning is well under way following the minor distraction of a game last weekend. The victorious assistant joins us to discuss Lansdowne demons, big life decisions and his inability to get through a sentence without cursing. As 40 year old Johnny prepares for his one man crusade against Galway Utd next season, Dan has an insight on how to wear flares, the mailbag has the LOI Central drinking game (had to happen), and the lads in studio cast their thoughts forward to next season. All of this is subject to the continued and rather frivolous use of a marketing budget by Future Ticketing, Collar & Cuff, Porterhouse Brew and Malone Financial Services. They think it's all over.....