The Counter Ruck: The Irish Times Rugby Podcast

With two wins from two gathered into the hold, the Andy Farrell train is rolling merrily along. Gavin Cummiskey and Gerry Thornley are in studio to break down Saturday's win over Wales and we hail Captain Johnny Sexton, for that is how we should address him now.Tyrone and Kerry's league game was moved to Edendork and Ian O'Riordan managed to find his way there against all odds. The game was interesting for two individuals in particular - David Clifford and Cathal McShane - for very different reasons. We talk yellow cards, targeting players and jobs for the boys.All this and a nation apologises to the Welsh women's rugby team for our crap showers. Free as the air you breathe in your Monday Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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The Six Nations is here and it is well in itself, French kissed to life on Sunday in Paris with the home side's win over England. Ireland's campaign got off to a steady start on Saturday, eventually overcoming a physical Scotland side but picking up some body blows along the way. Gavin Cummiskey and Gerry Thornley are in studio to break it all down and to look ahead to Wales's visit to Dublin next Saturday. The FAI have received a bail-out that we're not supposed to call a bail-out, to the tune of somewhere north of €30m. With its immediate future apparently secured, the game can breathe a sigh of relief and set about putting its house in order over the coming months. Emmet Malone has the details and he joins us on the line..Add in some SuperBowl chat - Hail to the Chiefs! - and that's your Monday morning Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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The Ireland squad are in Portugal so it must be (checks notes)... the start of the Six Nations? Okay. Andy Farrell's new broom has swept the team announcement - not to mention the Irish press pack - to foreign climes for a longer run-in than everyone is used to. Before hopping on a plane, Gerry Thornley joins Gavin Cummiskey in studio for our bumper Six Nations Preview. Spoiler alert: one of them tips France for the title.Speaking of uncommonly early starts, the GAA national Leagues got underway over the weekend, with Kerry and Dublin tangling in Croke Park on Saturday night. Seán Moran is on the line to gauge what's at stake over the coming weeks, especially with Tier Two championship places on the line down the divisions. And we reflect on what it is exactly that makes Cork such a desperate league team.Gav talks to us about the death of Kobe Bryant too, all in your Monday Added Time with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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The most compelling soap opera in rugby goes on and on. Fresh from the announcement that they are to be relegated to the English Championship, Saracens have drawn Leinster in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup in April. Gavin Cummiskey is in studio to walk us through the latest twists and turns in a story that has plenty of room to run in it yet.The big drama from the Liverpool v United match on Sunday took place off the pitch, with Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher eyeballing each other in the Sky studio over the hot topic of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future. Michael Walker joins us on the line to weigh up where United go from here and whether patience will or won't be a virtue in this scenario.Throw in a dispatch from the club finals and that's your Added Time this Monday, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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And we're back! The first Added Time podcast of 2020 is here and it's in your face. Or your ears, at least.Gavin Cummiskey is in studio to pick the bones out of the Champions Cup weekend. Leinster are sailing, Munster are failing, Ulster are somewhere in between. What does it all mean for the rest of the tournament? And with the Six Nations just under three weeks away, how are Andy Farrell's options shaping up?We have Ian O'Riordan in the house as well - and he's brought is runners with him. His €250 Nike VaporFly runners, to be exact. Inasmuch as a pair of running shoes can be controversial, these babies are - Ian explains why, how and what happens next.Throw in the story of mighty Magheracloone, the club with the sinkhole in their pitch who are about to play in an All-Ireland final, and you have you Monday Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Eamon Donoghue.

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For the final Added Time podcast of 2019, Mary Hannigan and Emma Duffy of The42 join us in studio to review the year in women's sport. With The Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year awards coming up this Friday, we all put up our top five women's sport moments of the year and worm our way through the selections until we reach the top.From Katie Taylor to Ciara Mageean to Rachael Blackmore to the hockey team, it has been a momentous year for women's sport. The women's World Cup, the Dubs, Sanita Puspure - it's all in here, the boundaries of sport being pushed further and further out with each passing month.All in your final Added Time of the year, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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The grim reality of the FAI's catastrophic accounts was revealed last week to be even worse than everyone imagined. What sort of future can it have now? How will it get out from under its debt to become a going concern? Emmet Malone joins us in studio to try to make sense of the worst week in the history of the association.Gavin Cummiskey is in with us too, picking over a Champions Cup weekend that had wins for Leinster, Munster and Ulster. We also, despite our best efforts, get into some more World Cup fall-out - Gav was one of the journalists who sat down with Rory Best last week and his insights into the particular circumstances of that interview are well worth hearing.Finally, film-maker Kevin Brannigan pays us a visit to tell us about his documentary In League With Gaddafi which goes out on RTE One tonight. The story of a group of Irish soccer players brought by Brian Kerr to play a match in Libya in 1989 is a hell of a caper, including Charlie Haughey, guns, beef and even a little bit of football.All in your Monday Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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Was 2019 a vintage year for sports books? Mal and Pat are joined by old friend and Irish Examiner sports columnist Kieran Shannon to pick their favourite titles of the past 12 months.

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Rugby with Garry Thornley and Gavin Cummiskey at 7.15Paul Fitzpatrick on Cavan footballer Charlie Gallagher at 31.30Munster gonna Munster. The ghosts of winter Saturday Nights Past came calling as Thomond Park rocked to another nail-biting Champions Cup encounter, this time against Racing 92. Gerry Thornley and Gavin Cummiskey are in studio to break down the rugby weekend that was, with a fair amount of excitement at the already clear impact of Stephen Larkham. We also delve into Joe Schmidt's book, released last week to a very mixed reception.Charlie Gallagher was the iconic Cavan footballer of the 1960s but somewhere along the way he got lost to the ages. Paul Fitzpatrick has written a beautiful biography of one of the greatest Ulster players in history, a celebrity in his own time who came to a sad end in later years. Paul joins us to tell a story not many people know or will have heard of.All this - plus Brendan Maher and the charms of winter hurling - in your Monday Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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Football with Emmet Malone 6.52Rugby with Gavin Cummiskey and Gerry Thornley 23.40Crunch time in Dublin 4. Ireland v Denmark VI - This Time It's... well, it's likely to be quite similar to the five that have gone before. Denmark won't be shaking in their boots, Ireland won't be exactly cowering either at the thought. Winner goes to the Euros, loser goes to the play-offs. Emmet Malone is on the line to give us Mick McCarthy's likely team and rate our prospects for the evening. The Champions Cup is back, back, back and Irish teams put together a clean sweep on the opening weekend. Gerry Thornley and Gavin Cummiskey are in studio to hail Connacht's mighty victory over Montpellier, the stand-out result of the weekend. Was anger over the World Cup driving the Irish players? Can it last? All this in your Monday Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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