The Second Captains Podcast

Ken is having a ball at this World Cup having watched Messi's record breaking feats, Mo's moment in little Egypt, Haaland go berserker and of course the highlight so far, being proved right about insipid England. Ken and Branno were also in Miami to see Scotland’s dreams crushed by a Vini Jr-inspired Brazil and tonight we set them loose in the city of vice! To listen to all our World Cup programmi...

Armagh and Donegal are out before the quarter-final stages of the All-Ireland senior football championship, just as everyone predicted.  We have Dara Ó Cinnéide and Paul Flynn, past players from the two big winners this weekend, and there’s plenty to sink their teeth into - what’s gone wrong with Donegal, what’s driving Dublin, Kerry’s trampling of Armagh, Monaghan’s scoring rate, Mayo madnes...

Kevin Brannigan has arrived in New York City, and his first job is to release battery hen Ken from his content cage. We talk to Pablo Montano from AS about Spain’s thumping win today, and if Yamal can regain full fitness during this tournament. Branno and Ken go to Little Egypt and witness the North African's first ever win at the World Cup and get caught up in the crazy aftermath. Plus there’s Eo...

Ken is having a great time at this World Cup and has chosen wisely so far, catching Messi's hat trick, The Azteca on opening night and England putting in one of their best ever World Cup performances... at least that's what MOST people thought. Next up its Brazil for Ken, and with loads of surprise results and some of the big stars shining, its shaping up to be a great tournament. To listen to all...

The All-Ireland football championship knew it had to produce something to grab some eye-balls on this World Cup weekend, and boy did it deliver.  Donegal and Armagh were both beaten, and they now face trips to Dublin and Kerry respectively. Paul Flynn and Dara Ó Cinnéide line up at the start line with us before a whirlwind tour of 8 incredible games this weekend.  Have Kerry’s injuries c...

This weekend gave us our first glimpses of Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti, Switzerland, Qatar, Germany and Curacao, and we manage to call in on quite a few teams on our Sunday night whistle-stop tour.  We speak to comedian, podcaster and Scotsman Ray Bradshaw about Scotland's first win at a World Cup in 36 years and the influence of McTominay and McGinn. And Ken was in beautiful* Houston fo...

We’re less than an hour away from the big kick-off at World Cup 2026, Ken is at the Azteca and we are having a blast on the World Service this week. You’ll hear from Ken all tournament long and Branno’s gonna join him in a few days time. Click the player at the top of the page to play the show. To listen to all our World Cup programming throughout the rest of the week,  join the Second C...

Ireland are preparing for one of the biggest nights in the history of women’s football in this country… but yet again, off-field issues threaten to overshadow our winner-take-all match against France in Grenoble tomorrow night. The FAI have released a statement saying no official announcement will be made until Thursday, but today government sources state that our home game against Israel in Octob...

The Munster and Leinster hurling finals didn’t eliminate anyone from this year’s All-Ireland championships, but judging by the on-pitch celebrations, winning them really, really mattered for Limerick and Galway. Joe Canning and Jamie Wall tell us why Cork can have few complaints about their 1-point defeat to Limerick… and is there a chance Galway spoil the Munster re-match in July’s All-Ireland fi...

We're just one week out from the World Cup and we're starting to feel it. First stop for Ken is Mexico City early next week, but before he went he gave us a special World Cup edition of KenCall! This week we also had Tim Vickery on Ancelotti's source code for coaching and how old injured legends Neymar and Messi will fare in the heat. Plus there's Mbappe's defensive stats, who Ken is supporting an...

Arsenal went to Budapest surfing a tidal wave of hope and joy, and finished losing on penalties after one shot on target in more than two hours of play. Less than Inter managed losing 5-0 last year, and less than Arsenal themselves managed against Barcelona in 2006, when they played most of the match with ten men.  Did Mikel Arteta's best-laid plans nearly come off - or did the plan ultimatel...

Welcome to fight week on the Second Captains world service! There was a Donnybrook in Dalyer, the McGuinness melee in Kerry and Keano and Bruno fighting on the internet. Plus we have a champions league show tomorrow and Monday, and coming very soon, the World Cup in Canada/USA/Mexico which will be really weird and really interesting. Its a fiver to join, it takes 30 seconds, you have instant acces...

The other four Champions Cup finals Leinster lost were all close, winnable and heartbreaking for fans; this defeat to Bordeaux however was over after 20 minutes and deeply concerning for all involved. We chat to Shane Horgan and Andrew Trimble about all the things that went wrong in Bilbao, and what this means for Leo Cullen, Nienaber and Irish rugby. And in a weekend of massive games in hurling a...

A day of goodbyes - Pep Guardiola, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Seamus Coleman, West Ham United. Ken gives his Premier League team of the season, and you … to be honest, you won’t be surprised by too many of his picks. Dion Fanning and John Brewin join us to talk about the end of the Premier League season. How good a season was it? Does Pep Guardiola leave Manchester...

Welcome to winners week on the Second Captains world service! Arsenal are Premier League champions again after 22 long years, and Villa ended a 30 year wait for a trophy with their Europa League win last night. We got in touch with friend of the show Dara O’Briain and Jacob Hawley of the Screen Rot podcast, to reflect on Arsenal's journey these last few years under Arteta and to discuss the whole...

After last Sunday's heroics Roscommon may have thought they had the 2026 Cinderella Team mantle all to themselves, but yesterday in Croke Park Westmeath took that title from them, and took the Leinster title for only the second time in their history.  Dara Ó Cinnéide and Paul Flynn were watching an insane day of Gaelic football - a day where Monaghan even came painfully close to turning...

Most of the world wanted Hearts to win on Saturday but this little corner of it was an exception. Eoin swoons at the romance of his close personal friend Martin O'Neill becoming a champion again at the age of 74 while Ken confesses that technophobia has driven him into the sweaty arms of Celtic FC, a reassuringly old-fashioned, incompetent football entity.  Rory "Jambo Unchained" Smith was at...

Welcome to cheat week on the Second Captains world service! It all started with the Arsenal West Ham VAR fallout and got progressively murkier as the week went on with the Southampton "Spygate" saga, Celtic's questionable late penalty against Motherwell and Florentino Perez calling out all the haters and losers at Real Madrid.   There was also the news this week that Chelsea are looking...

The newest member of our championship punditry team, Dara Ó Cinnéide - already getting rave reviews - was at Dr Hyde Park to see Roscommon pip Murph's Galway to their first home win in a Connacht final in a quarter-century yesterday.  Dara and Paul join us to chat about a huge day for the Rossies, the first provincial finals of the summer, Jayo Sherlock, and how, for David Clifford, it's all...

Arsenal are nearly there. As the manager flailed wildly with random substitutions, David Raya and Martin Ødegaard stood up to make sure that when the referees stepped up to rule on the climactic, decisive melee, Arsenal already had the crucial edge.  We go through the fallout, and also talk about the Southampton spying scandal, while Eoin confesses to a faux pas in the presence of a...

Welcome to our World Service taster show. This week was dominated by Arsenal Football Club, who could now win it all, or nothing, but either way should be allowed celebrate the wins along the way? We also covered PSG's second leg defensive masterclass, Guehi's blunder, Man Utd's next manager, Leinster and Ulster making European finals, footballers taking mid season holidays and we dedicate our Fri...

As Leinster eased into an 18 point lead with 12 minutes remaining in their Champions Cup semi final, everyone in the stadium could finally put that Northampton nightmare  behind them, right? We chat to Shane Horgan and Gerry Thornley about that late wobble and what caused it, how such a good team can also look so vulnerable, big Joe McCarthy saving the day, the blitz gamble, Leo's lecture to...

Welcome to our World Service taster show. This week was all about PSG Bayern and what makes for a great game of football. We interviewed Harvey Vale about his decision to join Ireland, his Chelsea years and rejecting a move to the Saudi leagues. We also covered the Arsenal Atletico Madrid peno farce, the fallout from Munster's appointment of Roger Randle (a move that has since been cancelled), LBJ...

It’s the Jamie and Joe Show today, as Messrs Wall and Canning are together for the first time this summer to react to Cork’s thrilling 2-point win over Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday, and the chaotic draw that Tipperary and Waterford played out a couple of hours later.   Cork were winners but with a few question marks, Limerick are going to Ennis next week without Aaron Gillane a...

What if Robert Sanchez hadn't been able to buy Chelsea some breathing space with a possibly-imaginary injury?  What if the ref last week had sent off Khusanov for fouling Havertz? What if Mikel Arteta and Daniel Farke weren't both believers in the philosophy of "you only complain when you're winning"? Pep Guardiola was buzzing throughout Manchester City's victory at Wembley though at times ap...