The Second Captains Podcast

The rules of golf state that if you start a meltdown on the Sunday of a major, you continue that meltdown and lose the tournament. Jordan Spieth arrested an alarming decline yesterday with the gutsiest golf seen since the Tiger era. He has three majors but the question remains - is he Ice-Man or Maverick? Michael 'controversy follows me everywhere' Duignan has become a walking headline these last...

Joe Brolly told the Sunday Business Post yesterday that capitalism would kill the GAA. Football shows us a sport where the process is already far advanced. July gives you little actual football to distract from the business of money making, which the big clubs are doing on their summer tours. So today it's Neymar buying sneakers, and Jurgen Klopp talking about the price of butter. Sid Lowe joins u...

Eoin and Ken are talking about fake news. Ken confesses to a missed opportunity. Premier League teams are on pre-season tours, making money and trying to spend it. Liverpool can't get anyone to take their stinking money. Jose Mourinho has been impressed with Marcus Rashford's phenomenal upwards growth. News may be fake, but inches are real. We're joined by Rory Smith of the New York Times to talk...

Winning comes easy to some people - and this weekend Roger Federer, and the footballers of Dublin and Tyrone, all burnished their credentials with crushing victories. Oisin McConville and Mike Quirke reflect on the Dubs' 7th consecutive Leinster championship win, as each new game brings another scoring master-class from a different member of their forward unit. They are somewhat less impressed by...

Cork are the Munster champions, and powered by a cohort of brilliant young players, the dip we've all been expecting as they adjusted to their new reality just hasn't arrived. We analyse the influence of Gary Keegan, former Irish boxing supremo, on Cork. We said a few weeks ago that there are 7 teams capable of winning the All-Ireland senior hurling championship this year - and with 6 teams left a...

Wayne Rooney knows how to tug on Evertonian heartstrings. Romelu Lukaku perhaps a little less so. At least one of his new team-mates at Manchester United has a thing or two to teach him about farewell tribute messages. We consider the phenomenon of the viral signing confirmation announcement. Aston Villa have pushed the boat out for John Terry: having raised the bar, what can they do to welcome Gl...

Ken returns just as international football ends for summer 2017. Once again, Germany have won most of the trophies and have added the Euro U21-title and Confederations Cup to their haul. The World Champions look well set for the next World Cup, all Joachim Löw needs to do is figure out which of their 40 top-quality internationals to drop. As the Confederations Cup winds up, we talk to Nick Ames in...

The Lions won the second test of the series against New Zealand, and that's all that matters, regardless of the fact that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that the tourists simply couldn't pass up. The All-Blacks will be back to 15 players for the third test, and the weather might not be as amenable on Saturday (although it's New Zealand, so rain is never far away), but the Lions have giv...

From the moment Tadhg Furlong told us about the unique charms and appeal of his uncles' home on Whiddy Island last December in the Liberty Hall Theatre, we have been dreaming of one day broadcasting from this jewel of Bantry Bay. And last Saturday morning, as Tadhg made his Test debut for the Lions against New Zealand, that dream became a reality. And as we all tried to digest the thoroughness of...

The biggest story of the football weekend was the bombshell revelation that every member of the Russian squad from the 2014 World Cup is under investigation for possible doping. We speak to Nick Harris who broke the story for the Mail on Sunday, and ask if a story like this is going to be in the media cycle for longer than just a few days, or if attitudes to doping in football will remain as wilfu...

We give you a taste of the latest Player's Chair with Damien Duff. From the shower. For the full broadcast, join the Second Captains World Service at secondcaptains.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was supposed to be a war of attrition, but in the end Tyrone blew Donegal away in their Ulster championship semi-final yesterday with a dynamic, all-action display of attacking football. Oisin McConville thought this Donegal team had a bright future, but he and Mike Quirke now ponder the next step for them, and how far Tyrone can expect to go this summer. And we discuss whether Kildare showed e...

GET IT TO THE BIG MEN!!!..... came the cry from Martin O'Neill at half time, and that's exactly what the boys in green did, rescuing a point and almost getting a win against Austria. Were we robbed by a sizeist ref, and did Duffy even need to jump for the ball that resulted in a disallowed goal? But Ken also wants to know where have the good performances gone, what happened our midfield, and he ha...

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We relive our Cat Laughs show with Dara ÓBriain and David O'Doherty. For the full broadcast, join the Second Captains World Service at secondcaptains.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to their third Champions League win in four years - a victory for light-touch management and the model of having the best players in the world. Meanwhile James McClean scored another Ronaldo-like goal, Harry Arter impressed and Martin O'Neill gushed with joy as Ireland's boys of summer swatted aside Uruguay. We take a look at Ireland's midfield options for the Aus...

The latest positive drug test in the GAA was the big story in this weekend's Sunday Independent - and over the course of the next 36 hours, statements from the Kerry County Committee and Sport Ireland have sought to add clarity to the case of Kerry footballer Brendan O'Sullivan. We're joined by the man who broke the story, the Sunday Indo's sports editor John Greene, and former Kerry footballer Mi...

Arsenal lit up Wembley with their best performance of the season, so naturally Eoin takes the opportunity to engage in some cheap shots about David Luiz. The final was a minor classic, the best of the seven Wenger has won. Should the board succumb to the golden glow of victory and award Arsene Wenger a new contract, or has this success made a necessary decision much harder? Eoin imagines himself i...

It's a beautifully sunny day outside, so whilst our members are waiting for today's Ken Early Political Podcast, here's a short pod featuring Parky, Paulie Malignaggi and Joe 'Mr Doctor' Coffie. Sign up to the Second Captains World Service now at secondcaptains.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This was the weekend when Chelsea were presented with the Premier League trophy by Dennis Wise, but more importantly, John Terry bid farewell - but not goodbye? - to his Chelsea home. There were tears, elaborate rituals of respect and everyone was left with a sick feeling in the pit of their stomach. We discuss the aftermath of Arsenal's failure to make the Champions League. Arsene Wenger's dignif...

As starts to the GAA championship summer go, 56 scores, 5 sparkling debuts, the All-Ireland champions dethroned, and a winning goal scored by a man who was told 3 years ago he'd never play again due to a heart complaint, wasn't bad. Michael Duignan was in Thurles yesterday to witness Cork's stunning 2-27 to 1-26 win over reigning champions Tipperary, and we reflect on one result that blows the who...

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After a weekend in which most of the outstanding issues of the Premier League were settled, we get the views of our correspondents Miguel Delaney and John Brewin. After Conte's man management miracle this season, rumour has it that Chelsea are planning the kind of spending splurge we haven't seen there since the early years of the Abramovich era. As Europe's richest clubs gear up to break transfer...

The 2017 GAA championship is almost upon us, and we have Kildare manager Cian O'Neill in studio to help us set the scene for summer. O'Neill has been involved in All-Ireland successes in hurling and football in the last 7 years - first in 2010 when he was physical trainer to the Tipperary hurlers, and then with Kerry in 2014, when he was coach under Eamon Fitzmaurice. In between he served with May...

Eliud Kipchoge's attempt to break the 2-hour marathon barrier was either a commendable attempt to test the outer limits of human endurance... or a deeply cynical marketing ploy to convince you to buy some runners. David Epstein, author of "The Sports Gene" is better placed than most to separate corporate speak from genuine athletic curiosity, and as Kipchoge's attempt fell 25 seconds short, there'...