Second Captains

It's World Cup final weekend, and against all our better judgement we're very excited. Mattie Williams is in studio, and we try to forget that there hasn't yet been a good showpiece game since this tournament began in 1987.John Leonard joins us to talk about his new book "Dub Sub Confidential" - from sexual abuse as a child, to a spell in his life in his early twenties when he went completely off the rails, to a stint behind Stephen Cluxton as Dublin goalkeeper under Pillar Caffrey, it's an amazing story. Plus there's plucky underdog NZ killing rugby as a sport, Big Sam's dress, and Ken's love for David Pocock.

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Proud finisher Eoin McDevitt, fresh from the Dublin Marathon, takes the helm for a discussion with last year's marathon winner Eliud Too, who tells us how he spent his winnings and why he named his two cows Ken Early and Ciaran Murphy.Gerry Thornley and Shane Horgan try and fail to avoid talking about Ireland while reviewing the weekend's Rugby World Cup semi-finals. And there's Eoin's Foghorn Leghorn physique, Donal Og Cusack joining Clare, and a 20,000 word thesis on what we've learned from RWC 2015.

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Ken and Ciaran talk about committee dialogue and the difficulty of sticking by the courage of your convictions. There is also some Wayne Rooney pity-talk.Miguel Delaney was at Upton Park to see Jose Mourinho lose his dignity in the director's box. And Michael Walker saw Sunderland continue their astonishing winning streak against Newcastle United.

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We were live in the Sugar Club for a show in association with our sponsors Rabo Direct, and we were joined for a chat by Brian Kerr and Emmet Malone - on the agenda was Ireland's upcoming playoff with Bosnia, Jurgen Klopp and priced-out football fans.Plus there's an excerpt from Ken Early - The Marseilles Years, and a chat with John Brewin on the Manchester derby this week.

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Eoin, Ken and Ciaran discuss Ireland's sad addiction to a certain dreary dirge that has become an infallible portent of doom. Meanwhile Jose Mourinho adds another pile of winger bones to his boneyard.Football man Dion Fanning joins us to try to understand why Ireland's rugby heartbreak pleased many football men. And Jonathan Wilson was at White Hart Lane to see Jürgen Klopp's managerial debut in the Premier League

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Ireland have fallen short again – Shane Horgan and the lads talk through another heartbreaking, deflating defeat at a Rugby World Cup.Billy Walsh has left his position as the head coach of the IABA’s High Performance Unit - Bernard Dunne gives his reaction. If that wasn't enough, we talk to the Scots about their heartbreaking defeat to Australia. Plus there's England poaching Joe, Six Nations revisionism, and the fallacy of four year plans.

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After three years of build-up to our seismic game against France last Sunday, it seems we barely have time to draw breath before our World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.Matt Williams tries to temper the fatalism, while Diego Albanese, try-scoring hero from Lens in 1999, gives us the Argentinian view. Plus there's US Murph on the Chicago Cubs, Boris Johnson is at it again, and we take a trip to Franno-land.

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Eoin and Ken discuss the sensitive soul of Big Sam Allardyce. He bruises easily but he's got a good heart. There is also talk about Brentford and the reasonable-sounding revolutionary who owns them, Matthew Benham.Raphael Honigstein joins us to chat about his book, Das Reboot: How German Football Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World.

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Eoin and Ken talk about Ireland's defeat in Warsaw, the Wes mystery, Robbie Brady's best position, playoff positivity, and how the Euro qualification picture looks now.Dion Fanning and Miguel Delaney comb through the wreckage of a nation's dream.

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Super Sunday finished with Ireland safely through to the World Cup quarter-finals in rugby, and our football team consigned to the playoffs... a place we'd have gladly taken 5 months ago, 5 weeks ago, and in truth, even 5 days ago.Shane Horgan gives us his reaction to a brutal, gripping satisfying World Cup win and Gerry Thornley reports from the field hospital that is the Irish camp in Cardiff. Richard Escot of L'Equipe tells us how the French team feel they have betrayed the nation, and Ken is fresh off the plane from Warsaw.

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