LOI Central

While Dan is in Molde with Shamrock Rovers, which is basically a colder Craggy Island where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be wearing an "I Shot JR" t shirt, Johnny hooks up with footballer/publican John Mountney who discusses Stevie, dodgy knees, and JW’s quest for a free pint. We also have Brian Maher on size being irrelevant, the pain of Israel and the joy of being the most obvious keeper in Derry...

In a turn of events more unexpected than Armenia's comeback at the Aviva, Keith Long came to join us this week for a discussion on Bohs and much more besides. We discussed the all-consuming nature of management, the highs and lows of his Dalymount era and discuss his difficult departure, the emotions of 2022 and the lingering what ifs after eight years in charge. Keith also grapples with our mailb...

The boys are back in town....but only at the right time. Luke Byrne and Sean Boyd join us in studio after Shelbourne's defeat of Bohemians on Sunday to reflect on the big win, Boyd's rebirth, Damien Duff's video making skills and the pre-season training rules that brought the old pals closer together. We also hear from Tommy Barrett about Treaty United's unlikely cup run, and a jibe about the Galw...

In a week where a nation mourned the passing of its royalty, our LOI royalty went on holidays! This week, Dan and Johnny and a huge carbon footprint come together to bring you the second instalment of our Lost Lane Livecast with Chris Shields, Dave Webster and Eoin Doyle. During a night of high spirits we talked about stealing FAI cups and jollies to Scottish ones, the reflex action to fill the pe...

After 6 podcast seasons, an aborted season of TV shows, 3 studios, 3 producers, half a dozen engineers, and a bucketload of flat whites, Dan and Johnny have made it to the big time! Recorded before a live audience in Dublin 2 at Lost Lane on a Sunday evening, Ireland manager Stephen Kenny joins the LOI community for a memorable chat from Tallaght Town to Serie B, from best players to adapting form...

It's live show week - please come and join us this Sunday (tickets are here https://eventlist.store/loicentral/leagueofirelandcentral?ftredirect=1) - and while live podcasting isn't as risky as live radio, we learned that it can get complicated this week with Bohemians parting company with Keith Long AFTER we had recorded our show and our chat with Pat Fenlon about affairs at Dalymount. Fear not;...

Why is Lorcan Fitzgerald so angry? We try to get to the bottom of that question this week but Johnny just wants to hear about our studio guest’s favourite trip to Galway back in the day when he was just a player and not a player/coach wondering what the future holds for him. We were delighted to have Lorcan pop in ahead of Wexford’s big cup date with Dundalk and the only disappointment is that the...

For fear of being sued for adapting a Nobel Laureate's lyrics, we're coming out of Como and Budapest. Radio signal, clear as can be expected, as we check in with Cesc Fabregas' team mate Liam Kerrigan in Como who is holed up indoors before 4pm and will be looking for Johnny's English girl approximately under the leaning tower. Liam also fills us in on his years at UCD and his relationship with Mar...

As we bask in the summer heatwave drinking Ice-T, Stephen Bradley's Shamrock Rovers bask in European glory after 'routinely' disposing of Shkupi Shkupi Dog Dog. We hear from the manager of the victorious team from Tallaght as well as welcoming another Tallaght native into our studio. Graham Gartland returns to the pod to cast his assessment of Bradley's performance, a look ahead to Saint Pats big...

By all accounts this week's pod takes 'interesting' to a new level. This weeks mistakenly identified guest is John Martin, who didn't play as a number 10 for UCD in either 1999 or 2000, but did play in midfield and was assistant manager with Longford Town. John drops by LOI towers to talk about the business of sport, CEO training, the FAI's strategy plan, his experiences as a player and a coach, a...

This week, Didi and Gogo are unaccompanied in studio as the pod takes a darker turn. Suitably dressed in all black, our accidental heroes ruminate on life, death, and European competitions. With voices from far flung lands, like John Russell from Sligo, Jamie Lennon and Jon Daly from Saint Pats and Gary O'Neill from Shamrock Rovers, our protagonists try to see the bright side of the week's adventu...

On the anniversary of his Real Madrid debut we talk in depth with Chris Ronaldo's best friend over the last thirteen years. Yes, ex Rovers defender Pajo Flynn, whose relationship with Ronaldo has blossomed since their first meeting on that Tallaght pitch over a decade ago bares his soul in a no holds barred interview that details his part in Ronaldo's rise, that famous Coca Cola bottle controversy...

European football is a Ciaran Kilduff time of year and he dropped into studio to reflect on magic memories with Johnny and Dan and talk about his plans to make some new ones in management. His old team-mate and rival Colin Healy is living that life right now and he dialled in from Cork ahead of Friday's big game in Turner's Cross to talk about the transition to the dugout and dismiss mind games fr...

As the giddy July evenings of European football take hold, Paddy Kavanagh joins us to speak of his vision for beauty, love and truth or maybe it was just Bohs. Either way, we went on an entertaining journey through his career, from character building Leinster Senior League days to the Belgrade bomb squad and a thriller in Turkey before he found his happy place scoring in front of the Dalymount Par...

Is it just us or is the whole world looking for the next South Dublin coffee house? Well you won't find it here. We've got cheesy chips, curry chips, and Stephen Bradley, who wasn't bad at chips in his day. As Bradley's team gets ready for the ex British colony of Malta and their high temperatures, we narrowly avoid an international incident of the Kay Burley variety, when talking with Gianluca Li...

This week's special guest is Trevor Croly. Over a decade and a half in coaching, he talks about his time as manager of Shamrock Rovers, what he learned, the Bohs bus-inspired jersey, their up-and-down season and a lot more besides. We also hear from John Caulfield ahead of Alex Murphy's move to Newcastle, much to Johnny's sadness. And Dan is off to Berlin – after an admission that the lads had a s...

It's another remote-arama podcast with Johnny going nineteenth century on the Blaskets and Dan just back from his eastern European International duty. We have Stephen O'Donnell checking in along with Greg Bolger as we anticipate the big European nights for the LOI clubs in the coming weeks. It's all in all not quite as good as a Nathan Collins wonder goal but not quite as bad as a George Best hang...

It's another roadshow of sorts this week with Johnny in Kinsale and Dan back from Yerevan and we return from our non Galway-Cork related mid-season break to speak about the planned LOI expansion into Kerry with Billy Dennehy speaking with Johnny about what's going on down in the Kingdom and where it might go. The lads discuss the potential, wonder how long it is before US tourists in Killarney are...

On Bob Dylan's 81st birthday we have a show with absolutely no reference to the poet laureate of Rock 'n Roll but do have the poet laureate of LOI, Brian Kerr, giving his views on the Liam Buckley dismissal. Whilst Dan dials in from Europe, Johnny finally get's a Long(ish) chat with Keith before a discussion on the SARI promotion of it's work and a chat with Europe bound, teenage sensation James A...

Johnny's fantasy of being in a forensic cop show came a step closer to being realised as the Operation Brookweed news broke just before going into studio. Dan and Johnny discuss the match fixing story as well as religious bookstores and relics before welcoming noted author, actor, topless model and entrepreneur Brian Gartland in to discuss his new book and his story so far. There's Ray Charles, Ho...

This week we welcome first-time caller, long-time listener, Padraig Amond, who made the trip from Carlow to Exeter and he tells us about life in league one with The Grecians, getting papped at a Florida airport and how he might not be playing at Galway United next season. Johnny talks to Stephen Bradley about quadruple substitutions in an effort to manoeuvre around a large bleached mastodon that m...

There's only one talking point to discuss this week. It's the big news that stopped us in our tracks. Did Johnny really go for a curry with Alan Patchell instead of a day at the races with Dan? Oh, there's also the whole Stephen Bradley to Lincoln thing, which the lads discuss in depth at the top of the show. We get the thoughts of Rotherham hero and exam student Georgie Kelly, the footballer who...

We've got a doozy of a show for you this week as we welcome back Mark Rossiter to the show and this time he brings Drogheda's best bearded northsider with him. Yes, in a wide ranging chat, Gary Deegan helps Johnny exorcise the ghosts of cup finals missed, reflects on how a brush with death changed his perspective on life and opens up on the fake and fickle nature of the ruthless football industry...

The gloves are off this week and Nancy Reagan's continuing war on drugs means that Bradley, Higgins, and O'Donnell are retained for their thoughts on what happened over the weekend. As we stumble into the middle age of this season's pod and lose touch with the kids Dan speaks to English born, Drogheda based, Scottish U-21 international Sam Long & Johnny catches up with Kildare raised, Oxford based...

Just before Jesus rising time we've got a Shelbourne Special for you. It's a biblical tale of hateful revenge turning into brotherly love for Mark Coyle and Aodh Dervin - two new disciples of Damien Duff's gospel at Tolka. They talk about getting the call from the Messiah and what it means to go full time as well as spreading the good news via on field chats. There's loaves and chicken, excited mo...