The Second Captains Podcast

After Brazil defeated Panama 4-0 with lashings of jogo bonito Ken has a stat from the opening 15 WWC matches that may surprise you. Elsewhere, it's reported today that Saudi Arabia would like to spend a billion euros to have Kylian Mbappe grace the Pro League for a single season. How to make sense of this monetary madness?  We talk about the Saudi bid with reference to a recent piece by the h...

Limerick's four-in-a-row was secured in Croke Park yesterday in thrilling style, and Jamie Wall and Malachy Clerkin are with us today to answer a question being more and more insistently asked - are Limerick the best ever? We congratulate Ken on Limerick's success while he studies the hurling history books and explains why Kilkenny's Cody era is not all it was cracked up to be. And we lo...

The World Cup in Australia and New Zealand kicked off this week, and Ireland are down but certainly not out after an opening-day loss to the hosts. Our man, Ken Early, couldn't be there in person, but he joined us from our studios, huddled around a not-so-tiny TV to watch the game. Meanwhile, Sinéad O'Carroll was on the ground in Sydney, capturing the mood music surrounding the game and the shock...

Three more days till Ireland kick-off in the 2023 World Cup and Denise O’Sullivan looks likely to make it after Friday’s injury scare. In the meantime, there are some typical July stories. Why did Harry Maguire feel the need to comment extensively on losing the Man United captaincy? How much will PIF charge PIF for Allan Saint-Maximin? And why did Memphis Depay’s message in support of Benjamin Men...

It’s the height of summer so that means choices must be made; do you watch the All-Ireland semi-finals, the latest stage in the Tour de France or the epic Wimbledon Final?  Thankfully, for you, both Eoin and Ken have had eyes on all events, with Eoin even managing to appear in the flesh at two of the aforementioned peak summer sporting highlights. To chat about the weekend's Gaelic Football t...

Welcome to a sample of the Second Captains World Service which this week includes Malachy Clerkin and Jamie Wall running the rule over a mouth-watering Hurling weekend that was, with Murph asking are Kinnerk and Kiely the best 'in-game' management duo the GAA has ever seen? With Down and Meath facing off in the Tailteann Cup Final this coming weekend, we take a trip back in time to when a Young do...

This Ireland under 20s rugby squad have achieved a lot on the field, but off it have had to deal with a series of tragedies connected to the playing group, including the sudden death of Greig Oliver, whose son Jack plays with the team.  We talk to Irish Independent rugby correspondent Ruaidhri O'Connor about the team's ability to cope, the performances that have got them this far, and some of...

In one month and one day, the Premier League 2023/’24 season will commence with Manchester City’s away day in Burnley. Will Connemara’s Harry Kane be taking his place in the Greatest League On Earth, for another season of scoring lots of goals and winning no trophies - or will he be off to Munich? One man who is out the gap is the last survivor of the Alex Ferguson era. David De Gea’s departure me...

Welcome to a sample of the Second Captains World Service which this week includes a Ken Early sit-down interview with Irish Captain; Katie McCabe, a happy Paul Flynn chats all things Rampant Dubs and academic and author, Mark Jones joins Ken for a Politics Pod based around his new book; 1923. The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler's Coup Join us for ad-free, contract-free, member-led broadcast...

As Ireland get ready for their last World Cup warm-up game against France this Thursday, The Athletic has published a long investigative piece about Vera Pauw's time as coach of Houston Dash back in 2018.  The article includes comments from several players and staff members who worked at the club under Pauw and also an interview with the Ireland coach. We talk through some of the claims and c...

Murph is of course a true gael, but also the only known link between the GAA world and the cricket world. So with bazball, boos, allegations of cheating and four QF's in croker, he's had a busy weekend. Twelve boxers, five medals, two champions; it was a very good trip to the European Games in Poland for Ireland's boxers with five now qualified for next year's Olympics in Paris, including Olympic...

Robbie Keane's coaching career, which includes short spells at Leeds, Boro, Ireland and India - hasn't hit the heights so far, which makes his move to Maccabi Tel Aviv especially intriguing. We chat to Jonathan Wilson about coach Keane, Declan Rice's future plans and what a total failure PSG"s Mbappe-Neymar-Messi project has been. Plus there's Branno at the wheel, and we give excuse after excuse f...

The games, and the draws, are now happening at such break-neck speed that Eoin can barely keep up, but we endeavor to capture the madness of a manic weekend of Gaelic football with Michael Murphy and Paul Flynn.  Mayo are through, and Galway are out - Kildare rue a bundle of missed goal chances, and the Cork football revival continues apace. Monaghan are the team that will not die,...

Welcome to a sample of the Second Captains World Service which this week includes Damien Delaney on how a coach loses the dressing room, Ireland's Eddie Dunbar on his issues with concussion and Michael Murphy's proud Donegal soul. Join us for ad-free, contract-free, member-led broadcasting for just €5 + VAT a month at  secondcaptains.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Another major Sunday in contention, another heart-breaking end for Rory McIlroy. Many of us stayed up until 3am for this latest iteration of Rory's vale of tears, and that didn't help either.  Joe Callaghan and Lawrence Donegan join us to discuss whether this was even more difficult to take than St Andrews last year, if Rory needs a new voice in his camp he actually listens to, and what...

Tonight the Republic of Ireland take on Gibraltar in the 'more or less sold-out' Aviva Stadium - but the result in Athens on Friday night has cast its shadow right across the weekend… leading to a charged Press Conference on Sunday. One of those Press Conference participants, James McClean, tonight makes his 100th appearance for Ireland. Alongside David Sneyd and Dion Fanning we chat about the tri...

Welcome to a sample of the Second Captains World Service which this week includes a preview of the Greece Ireland Euro qualifier, the rise of the alien athlete, a close up of Rory-world, Dublin Murph, and the terrible movie that won't go away. Join us for ad-free, contract-free, member-led broadcasting for just €5 + VAT a month at  secondcaptains.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam event at the French Open yesterday but in truth that was only the final act of a hugely dramatic fortnight at Roland Garros. Caitlin Thompson of Racquet magazine talks to us about Djokovic’s remarks about Kosovo, the toll being taken on Ukraine’s biggest tennis stars, and Russian and Belarusian players being ignored at the net. We also discuss Kilkenny’s late...

Manchester City made sure that Abu Dhabi could look Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the eye when the Persian Gulf powers reminisce about the 22-23 football season by delivering the club and the emirate's first Champions League win in Saturday's final in Istanbul. We talk through the events of the game before Miguel Delaney and Jonathan Wilson join us from Istanbul to discuss City's Treble. How did...

After over 1000 games as a professional football manager, David Moyes has finally won his first major trophy. And what a time to do it, offering a much need reminder of the joy that still exists in this farcical world of ours. We chatted about West Ham's last-minute heroics to claim the Europa Conference League trophy and why 'mickey mouse' tournaments like this are becoming all the more important...

Two down, one to go for Manchester City, after they eased to FA Cup final victory over Manchester United. We talk through some of the key moments of the final before Mark Critchley and John Brewin join us to reflect on where the defeat leaves United at the end of Erik ten Hag’s first season. Who should stay? who should go? and will they have to sell before they buy? Plus there's Sancho the scapego...

This week on the Second Captains World Service Murph Paul Flynn and Michael Murphy tried to find a way forward for Gaelic Football; a route that can take the game away from six minute periods of possession. Rule changes, mentality changes? Evolution.  In our Second Captains World Service 'I'll Tell You Who Wrote It'' Book Club, we focused on Christopher Mc Dougall's 'Born To Run', with Olympi...

What you win is important, but so is how you do it and who you beat along the way, and Munster's gritty run away from home against The Stormers. The Sharks, Glasgow, Leinster and The Stormers again in the final in Cape Town have turned an up and down season into a great one. We drag Barry Murphy away from the celebrations in Limerick to put this URC title in context, and Ruaidhri O'Connor joins us...

Everton live to get away with it another day after finding the relegation plughole already jammed with the soggy remnants of Leeds and Leicester. We trace some of the steps of Leicester's long sleepwalk to the Championship. Erik ten Hag bewitched the Old Trafford crowd with his final-day address and we look at where one of his predecessors went wrong. Raphael Honigstein joins us to talk about the...

This week on the Second Captains World Service football man Damien Delaney and our own Ken Early finally went head to head in heated debate the motion: Is Trent at centre mid the long-term solution to Liverpool’s problems? We were also joined in studio by the Jamie Wall / Malachy Clerkin punditry axis. The best duo in the business. Join us for ad-free, contract-free, member-led broadcasting for ju...