Second Captains

All the way from the tender green shoots of the grassroots game to the swollen red giant of Neymar's declining career... the extreme fisheye perspective of today's football pod can mean only one thing: it's summertime.

That also means TRANSFER TALK, including Jesus to Arsenal, Bale to LA, De Jong to Man Utd and Neymar to nowhere.

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After the goals, the fightback, the fight, the red cards, the penalties and the tears, we had a lot to get through with Oisin Mcconville and Murph today, but we start by asking how the GAA, and Armagh, should deal with the scenes at the end of normal time.

Murph prays there will be no appeals process, but what about Galway and their late collapse, their inability to deal with high balls, their brilliant goal in extra time and superb penalty technique?

Plus there's Ken TV, meek Mayo, Dublin's stroll in Croker and Derry looking good not just for a final, but maybe an All Ireland title too.

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We spent a surprising amount of the week discussing summer camps and John Stockton's mid 90's trips to Ireland, and we had a great chat with Joanna Harper, a competitive runner who transitioned a number of years ago, and since then has become one of the leading voices in this area. She's now a medical physicist and an advisor to many international sports federations and is based at Loughborough University in the UK, where she’s researching transgender athletic performance.

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Eoin returns to the football pod and gives his long awaited take on the Nations League and Ireland’s best goal, meanwhile Ken is accused of twisting facts to suit his narrative, which just goes to show the kind of stuff that comes in from scum around the country. 

We also chat about Richard Arnold’s pub talk with Man United fans, what's happening with Frenkie de Jong and Murph's solution to the FAI's sponsor issues. 

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Eoin is back in the hot-seat, and to celebrate his return, the All-Ireland hurling championship has been whittled down to its last four - Jamie Wall and 2013 All-Ireland winning captain Pat Donnellan join us to discuss the two quarter-finals this week. 

Galway beat Cork, but don’t have a rat’s chance against Limerick, while Shane O’Donnell continues to perform miracles for Clare, even when they’re under-performing. And when Plan A works, but has been rumbled, how important it is to adapt - the two teams that did at the weekend, are still alive this morning. 

Plus there’s Murph’s superpower, Eoin on a farm, Ken's golf power rankings and the butcher of Ballybrack strikes again.

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From calling out Phil Mickelson, to pronouncing the LIV Series dead in the water, to questioning the pursuit of money, Rory McIlroy has been nothing if not outspoken these last few months. He looked like a man with a point to prove as he defended his Canadian Open title this weekend, taking him to 21 PGA Tour wins, one more than.....somebody else. 

Meanwhile Charl Schwartzel was winning four times as much as Rory over on the LIV tour, but wasn't wrestling with his conscience. And world number 374, GMAC, sees only one set of footprints in the Saudi sand. 

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Victory this weekend was never, of course, in doubt and that is precisely what Ireland delivered. 

We chat to Dion Fanning and Miguel Delaney about our over-reaction to every Ireland result, the reality that this group of players, and this manager, will continue to make mistakes and be inconsistent, and a heated debate breaks out over whether long shots, dribbles or passing moves are the best kind of goals.

Plus there's the joy of simplicity, the Hendrick debate, and Ken on the beauty of Poland. 

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The Irish football team: a consistent source of disappointment, or a consistently bracing source of perspective on life? Ken and Murph disagree, just as they disagree on many things about the game. 

One thing they do agree on is that in international football, a superhero isn't necessary, but as Wales and Norway demonstrate, it sure helps. 

Richie Sadlier and Gavin Cooney join us to analyse what happened in Yerevan. Why can't we create chances? For all the supposed improvement are there any signs of the development of real confidence? Is there anything to be said for another system change? 

Plus there's wild talk of "creativity", "passing triangles" and the need for "De Bruyne crosses".

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We had four pretty awful provincial Gaelic Football finals this weekend, the undoubted main story of which was Derry outlasting Donegal in a dour, defensive Ulster final during which Donegal played a risk averse, low energy game.

Galway keep marching on in Connacht, and then there was the galling sight of Dublin and Kerry once again filleting provincial opposition in their finals on Saturday.

Why on earth did Kildare not use a sweeper against Dublin and will Derry get it so easy outside of Ulster? We set the scene for our chat with Oisin McConville and Paul Flynn, coming up on the World Service on Wednesday.

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The universe gave Ken all the signs in the world, including an actual, real-life rat infestation on the streets of Paris, but he refused to listen. Real Madrid are champions of Europe.

After a chaotic, dangerous and depressing night in Paris for so many Liverpool fans, Ken speaks to Miguel Delaney and Jonathan Wilson about whether they're a great team or not, the mistakes made for the Vinicius goal and just how Madrid keep winning this competition.

Liverpool played 3 cup finals this season, failed to score in any of them, and now it looks like Sadio Mané is leaving and Salah will go soon after. How does Jurgen Klopp go about rebuilding from here?

Plus there's El Chiringuito on the streets, Liverpool on parade and the behaviour of the French police towards Liverpool fans.

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