Second Captains

Liverpool are the 24-25 Premier League champions. We talk about their victorious campaign, why this should be regarded as one of the great coaching achievements in English football history, and why other Liverpool managers who came close in the past might feel a little envious of the circumstances in which Arne Slot won the Premier League at his first attempt. 

We also discuss an incredible Copa Del Rey final and the latest theories about why Florentino Perez has allowed Madrid to become a sore-loser "anti-organisation". 

Neil Atkinson of TAW joins us to talk about why this title means so much to Liverpool, how Arne Slot transformed last season's third-placed side into champions, and what remains to be done for the rest of the season.

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15 years of hurt are over - the Royals have stormed the capital and are back in power, and back in a Leinster final.

Some saw this coming, most didn't.

We talk to the soothsayer Paul Flynn about where this shock lies on the GAA Richter Scale, how Meath did it, and where this leaves Dublin now.

We also chat to Conor McManus about the Leinster final match up, Louth's evolution, and Armagh's win over Tyrone.

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Welcome to our weekly World Service taster menu which this week included Ken on Canham, making football great again. Bohs beating Rovers, Paul Flynn on fabulous football, Liam Rushe and Jamie Wall on hurling's hectic draws, and we have "fun and games" coming on Friday too.

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ope Francis, who died today aged 88, once told the players of Celtic FC that the essence of sport lay in 'gratuitousness', to give of yourself without expecting something in return. 

The idealism of his message doesn't resound widely in top-level football, where the contrasting experiences of two current stars expose the calculating self-interest that fuels the professional game.

Beñat Gutierrez joins us from Bilbao, European capital of football for the next few weeks to talk about their defeat last night at the Bernabéu and what they expect from the forthcoming Europa semi-final against Manchester United. 

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Well, that was something. Rory McIlroy's Masters win rightly managed to make it into most of our conversations this week, and we're not even done yet - Lawrence Donegan is slated to do his victory lap tomorrow on the World Service after finally seeing his pre-tournament prediction line up with reality. 

Ken also sat down with Sol Campbell yesterday, just a couple of hours before Arsenal dumped Real Madrid out of the Champions League once and for all. 

And a debate raged between our listeners and Ken over whether Bob Dylan is really up to much after all. 

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After Rory McIlroy’s open heart captivated the world last night, we identify the anti-McIlroy who has become the symbol of the Premier League 24-25.

We survey the gallant efforts of the sports media to spin gold out of the straw of the past weekend and inspect some of the suggestions that have been put forward to revive football as a spectacle. 

Jonathan Wilson and Nick Ames join us to talk about the weekend’s PL action. What was the buzz at Anfield as Arne Slot’s team closes in on the title? Would Kevin de Bruyne be a good short-term signing for another of the big Premier League clubs? And… you know… what did they make of the golf? 

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After what must surely have been one of the most amazing days of sport any of us has ever seen, Rory McIlroy did what it often seemed he never would: won at Augusta and joined the very, very short list of golfers who've won a career Grand Slam. And he did it in the most 'Rory McIlroy at The Masters' way imaginable. 

We're joined in studio by Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times and Gavin Cooney of the 42.ie to breathe it all in, to bask in it, and to relive it less than twelve hours later. 

Plus there's Jim Nantz's Crying Game, Lawrence Donegan the occasional oracle, and where Rory goes from here. 

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Welcome to our weekly World Service taster menu which this week includes Ken on his all-time Prem XI, Prince William's tactics masterclass before the Villa PSG game, Cork's march to an inevitable All Ireland hurling title and we ask Lawrence Donegan to take responsibility for Rory not yet winning The Masters. We also covered Munster's magic day in La Rochelle, Rice's free kick glory, Madrid in crisis and we have a pol pod coming on Friday too.

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If you felt some almost imperceptible shift in the world this weekend, the minutest tilting of the Earth on its axis, perhaps, there can only be one coherent explanation: it was the county of Cork and the province of Munster reclaiming their positions at the centre of the sporting universe. 

The first righting of the celestial wrong came in the Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Saturday evening, as Jack Crowley did what Cork-born Munster outhalves do: stepped into the pocket and slotted a drop goal to put Munster two scores ahead of ROG's La Rochelle. Twelve minutes and a whole lot of drama later, the full-time whistle blew with Munster victorious. 

Shane Horgan and Gerry Thornley join us in studio to chat through an incredible game full of heroics, emotion, atmosphere, momentum swings, 50/50 ref calls and nostalgia.

On Sunday the Cork hurlers thumped Tipperary in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to seal their first league title since 1998, with a good old-fashioned pitch invasion thrown in for good measure. 

Plus there's Mick O'Dwyer myths busted, Coombes' block, Mick Galwey on a JCB, and Leinster's 62-0 win in Croker.

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Ken, Branno and Mark went to Dalymount Park in search of vitriol - and they found it - but also nearly all of the other emotions on an evening that veered wildly between blind rage and helpless laughter. 

If everyone can agree the LOI is in a good place the same is not universally said of the Premier League where most of the teams are giving the impression that they would quite like to be on holidays already.

Mark Critchley and Jack Pitt-Brooke join us to talk about the weekend's PL football. Did we just witness the worst Manchester derby of all time? If so, who is to blame? Where does Kevin de Bruyne stand in the pantheon of football greatness? And what chance remains of Ange fulfilling his cursed second-season prophecy? 

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