Second Captains

The hardest working man in showbiz, Ken Early, has been working right through the Bank Holiday weekend. He soaked up the goodwill towards Alisson Becker in the Aviva stadium, pored over the latest transfer news, and admires Steven Gerrard's Rangers mindset.Monaghan mastermind Malachy O'Rourke has guided the county to their first senior All Ireland football semi final in 30 years, and the locals are starting to believe. Meanwhile things have gone sour very quickly in Kerry, culminating in the resignation of Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice.We talk to Oisin McConville and Mike Quirke about Kerry's fan fracture, measured Monaghan, phase 1 of Galway's All Ireland masterplan and the amazing return of Bernard Brogan from ACL surgery.Plus there's Courtois to Madrid, Bielsa's life lessons, and Eoin's cocktail class.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hurling is no longer a sport, more a sneak preview of what the heavenly after-life will be like. Murph is apparently still walking in a daze around Croke Park, so we get Ken's thoughts on the sport of the Gods.Is this a freakish year, or has the sport got better? Can Clare win the replay? Is there anything Limerick can't do? And what's on John Mullane's Spotify playlist?Clare’s All-Ireland winning captain from 2013 Patrick Donnellan and Malachy Clerkin of The Irish Times talk to us about a magical weekend of action.Plus there's weeping journos, Shane Dowling's plea to fans, mystery audio and human VAR.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Premier League season starts on Friday week with Manchester United against Leicester, which is an interesting match-up because Jose Mourinho and Claude Puel are currently the first and second favourite managers to leave their jobs. Mourinho has spent much of pre-season complaining about the quality of the squad at his disposal and for once Ken has some sympathy with his position.If Manchester United aren't prepared to pay big money for the experienced players Jose wants, do they have to reconsider whether he is the right man for the job? Miguel Delaney joins us to analyse what is happening behind the scenes at United. Plus there's Neymar's boy inside, Wayne Rooney finds happiness and does positivity have any impact on outcome?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So it turns out those people writing off the Super 8s as a bad idea after one weekend might have been a little premature. It was a brilliant weekend of football, with pride of place going to David Clifford's injury time heroics to save Kerry from a second consecutive defeat. Oisin McConville and Micheal Quirke discuss Clifford's luminous display, Rory Beggan's kick-outs, and Eoin breathlessly reports from his excursion to Omagh for his beloved Dubs' 3-point win over Tyrone. We chat to Lawrence Donegan about Francesco Molinari's first major title for Italy yesterday at the British Open, and just how close we came to seeing Tiger write a story for the ages. Plus there's Dave Alred's pressure principle, so much for Free Derry, Galway's easy side of the draw, Tiger's kids, and Omagh forgetting to bring the Galatasaray.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mesut Özil has quit the German national team and issued a four-page statement that concludes "I will no longer be playing for Germany at international level whilst I have this feeling of racism and disrespect."The fact that arguably Germany's highest-profile sportsman no longer feels comfortable representing the national team makes this one of the biggest stories in Germany's sports history - a super-Saipan that dramatises the conflicts in Germany's increasingly fractious debate on immigration and cultural integration.After analysing Özil's lengthy statement, we are joined by Raphael Honigstein to discuss the resulting fall-out.Plus there's Jose in Cali and Karius' plea to humanity.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The opening weekend of the All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stages, otherwise known as the Super 8s, was supposed to be, well... super. But that's not quite how it panned out. Can we blame Murph?It was overshadowed entirely by a six-goal World Cup final, and by Limerick's thrilling 2 point win over Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling quarter-final. Michael Duignan pays tribute to Limerick's new-look team, and to Kilkenny, who lost nothing in defeat but are now reduced to being a significant staging post in other teams' development. Oisin McConville and Mike Quirke join us to talk about wins for Tyrone, Dublin, Monaghan and Galway, and why we should probably withhold judgement until at least week 2 of this grand experiment. Plus there's Ken's latest travel woes, Dublin's two-finger salute, Oisin's travel-guide to the full Ulster GAA experience, and why we need more Lothar Matthaus in our lives.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here ends a bizarre, uplifting, brilliant, outrageous World Cup - France are champions after a 4-2 win against Croatia, in a game where bafflingly they managed to play poorly for large stretches, and still win comfortably. Ken was there to witness Pogba, politicians and a penalty decision that shaped the game. For this latest VAR controversy, Ken peaks into the mind of the ref during the World Cup final.We speak to Philippe Auclair about this French team, their cautious, under appreciated, ridiculously-garlanded manager Didier Deschamps, and a beautiful 20 years of success. We talk to Dario Brentin in Zagreb about Croatian pride in defeat, Modric's perjury charges, and how politics has always been a murky force in their football, and will continue to be despite this magnificent month. Plus there's reaction on the streets of Dublin to the World Cup final, Vladimir Klitschko, Putin's poodle Conor McGregor, umbrellas, and Ken's team of the tournament.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a brilliant weekend for the Irish girls at the European u-18 championships with four medals from three athletes, and some championship records and PB's to boot. Sarah Healy was the star of the show, winning a 1500/3000m double, but there was also gold in the 200m for Rhasidat Adeleke, and a silver for Sophie O'Sullivan, daughter of Sonia, in the 800m. Derval O'Rourke is in Finland at the World Under 20's and she tells us why we should both be excited and patient with this extraordinary new crop of potential stars. We ask where all this success has come from and what the path from underage to senior is like in athletics. Oisin McConville and Michael Foley join us to talk about the last round of qualifiers, and the annual post mortem on the Cork footballers - this year's looks particularly gruelling. Plus there's sprinter's choice, the Leinster hurling final replay, Sarah Healy asks Europe to inspect the damage, and Sonia the supportive, stressed-out mum.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was, for a change, quite routine on Saturday afternoon (by England tournament knockout game standards) as a 2-0 win over Sweden saw them qualify for only their third ever World Cup semi-final, and their first since 1990. Ken is a journalist, and so is unmoved by those who would suggest that he's not exactly embracing this England team... even if news that he was watching "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" on Saturday night leaked out online. Jonathan Liew of The Independent in London and Rory Smith of the New York Times talk us through England's impressive win, Pickford magic and look ahead to their match against an increasingly leggy-looking Croatia.And we discuss Waddle's lip wobble, self aware Ross Kemp, Harry Maguire's slab-head, Stuart Barnes on Neymar, Richard Clayderman, and Didier Deschamps' "that'll do" management which has gotten them all the way to the World Cup semi-final.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.