The Second Captains Podcast

Clare hurlers said they enjoyed the drawn final, while the Cork team have spent the last three weeks repeatedly being told they're an inferior side. Author, journalist and former Clare player Christy O'Connor and Tipp legend Nicky English join us to discuss what has been a strange build-up for the two sides involved. Irish amateur boxing is springing a few leaks at the moment with John Joe Nevin o...

This week we walk through the post All-Ireland wasteland to see if there are any Mayo bodies alive under the rubble. Oisin McConville and Anthony Moyles wonder if Dublin winning is good for football, and we ask Mike Finnerty of the Mayo News if this is the defeat that will finally break the county's will. Brian Murphy looks at the issue of preferential treatment for star players, and why the NFL c...

A year after Jim McGuinness seemed to have changed the way football would be played forever, Dublin have this summer successfully pursued a very different tactic. Oisin McConville and Karol Mannion look at the philosophy of the quiet man of this championship, Jim Gavin. The future of the Heineken Cup has long been in jeopardy, but flip flopping this week by the world governing body, the IRB, calls...

Mayo and Dublin thought their way out of trouble in their semi finals, but will James Horan and Jim Gavin make any changes to gameplan based on those scares. Mike Finnerty of the Mayo News and Malachy Clerkin of The Irish Times have met the managers and the players this week and give us the inside scoop. Two time winner of the William Hill sports book of the year Duncan Hamilton attempts to explai...

Trap is gone and Martin O'Neill is hot favourite to be his successor, but Ken and Eoin wonder would an older Roy Keane, in small (international window) doses, be the perfect man to lead the country once again. We talk about the demise of the NFL enforcer, the softening of America, and why European crowd noise is better than American crowd noise, with Brian Murphy. All this plus why success could c...

The Ireland Sweden game brought us all to our knees, but Sunday's final was the ultimate energiser. Dublin hurler Peter Kelly and author, journalist and Clare man Christy O'Connor try to put some sense on a frenetic game of hurling, and wonder what changes the managers will make ahead of the replay. It's a fresh start for Irish rugby this season with Joe Schmidt now in charge of the national side,...

Cork may be one of Hurling's 'Big 3' but when it comes to winning Munster and All-Ireland titles at underage recently, it's Clare that have all the pedigree. We talk to a man who has won it as a player and coach, Nicky English, along with six time winner Derek Lyng, and author, journalist and former Clare goalkeeper Christy O'Connor. Kieran McGeeney has been voted out of the Kildare job, to the di...

When you’ve got a killer right hook, and no chin, you don’t really have much of an option but to come out swinging – so was that why we were treated to a game for the ages on Sunday in Croke Park? Anthony Moyles and Oisin McConville sift through the gold and look ahead to Mayo-Dublin and another potential classic in the final. Ireland’s top two cyclists have had contrasting experiences in the Vuel...

Dublin and Kerry meet in the second All-Ireland semi-final this weekend, and the marquee rivalry in the GAA has managed to survive 70 years of almost uninterrupted Kerry dominance. We discuss with Kerry legend Darragh O Se and the Irish Times’ Malachy Clerkin. US Murph tells us about the NFL’s control over the media, and why America's most popular sport isn't too big to fail, while acclaimed autho...

Andy Moran was a sub in 2004 and 2006, and was on crutches watching on for last year's final against Donegal - this week he starts preparation for his fourth All-Ireland football final, this time hoping to play a full part as Mayo captain. He speaks to us today, while the best GAA analysts in the business, Anthony Moyles and Oisin McConville discuss how last Sunday could have been the perfect way...

In 2012 it looked like Jim McGuinness was a once in a generation genius, but this year James Horan is on track to achieve something just as outrageous. Oisin McConville and Anthony Moyles tell Mayo fans that this time round history doesn't matter. According to Brian Murphy the only things Americans hate more than a cheat, is a cheating rat - step up Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. We've al...

Sean Kelly was the world’s number 1 cyclist for five years, and was one of the most beloved Irish sportspeople worldwide throughout the Eighties. He also failed two drugs tests, and was at times overshadowed by his compatriot Stephen Roche. He discusses his new book ‘Hunger’ with Eoin today. Tyrone have had a bizarre lead-in to their All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo this weekend, with conspirac...

We only have 3 athletics world champions in our history, so the company is pretty rarefied for Rob Heffernan – we introduce him to one of the other members of the golden circle, Sonia O’Sullivan, on today’s show, to talk about a lifetime's work and what's needed from the next generation. US Murph tells us about the rise, the fall, and the possible return of the 'honey badger', one of the players t...

On today's show Nicky English and Christy O'Connor talk about the influence history has on a team's fortunes, and Peter Kelly tells us if his fellow Dublin hurlers feel 2013 was their last big chance to win an All Ireland. Russian sports administrators have a busy few years ahead hosting the Winter Olympics and the World Cup, and so the world has turned its attention to Putin's attitude to gay rig...

Donovan Bailey is the last 100m world record holder and Olympic gold medalist, besides Usain Bolt, to have no association with performance enhancing drugs. He joins the lads to discuss cheats, insecure athletes, and if we can believe in Bolt. Tiger Woods is back winning tournaments, and thanks to little Charlie Woods, might be winning the PR battle too. Brian Murphy explains why America is learnin...

Now that the Sean Cavanagh tackle has become an incident of national importance, we talk to Oisin McConville and Anthony Moyles about the consequences for the underage players, as well as Tyrone hatin', Mayo lovin', and why James Horan might be a genius. In the week that Sonia O'Sullivan questioned the ambition shown by our young athletes at major events, we talk to 800 metre runner Mark English a...

The All Ireland Football Championship goes from a steady jog to a full gallop this weekend - Oisin McConville and David Brady talk about Jim McGuinness, referee manipulation, Mayo's flight of discovery and how one man can dominate a 15 man game. Joe Schmidt has recruited the final member of his management team, so we talk to Ireland's new forwards coach John Plumtree about his plans for the team....

In the first of our four shows this week, we talk to Ireland’s first UFC superstar, Conor McGregor, about wealth, fame and the joys of proving your parents wrong. Brian Cody is gone for this summer, and the man to take him down was Jimmy Barry Murphy - we talk to Nicky English and Derek Lyng about his magical presence and why himself and Davy Fitzgerald are the same, but different. There’s also Mi...

Second Captains went live and dangerous this week to celebrate the launch of our four shows a week schedule with The Irish Times, which starts next Tuesday 30th July. It was a stellar cast at the Grand Social club in Dublin with Eamon Dunphy and Richie Sadlier speaking from the heart about the pitfalls and joys of football punditry, while Oisin McConville, Jason Sherlock and Anthony Moyles talked...

Chris Froome has won the Tour de France, but the questions about what we saw on the Alps aren't going away. David Walsh believes that Froome is clean. We'll hear Paul Kimmage's verdict on the new champion. Meanwhile, BT and Sky are trading insults ahead of the new Premier League season - Gabriele Marcotti and Jonathan Wilson explain why the stakes are so high, and how English football will be affe...

In this week's edition of Second Captains we ask what Rory McIlroy can learn from his new life coach Nick Faldo, Anthony Moyles and Oisin McConville explain why Dublin's win wasn't all good news for Jim Gavin, while we pour love on the pure of spirit - the hurling men of limerick. All this plus Jerry Kiernan tells us if there's any point watching 100metre sprints anymore, Howard Clark's retirement...

It’s a special heat-wave edition of Second Captains this week – Dan Martin talks friends and foes on the Tour de France after he became the first Irishman in nearly 20 years to win a stage, while we discuss how the Lions series will change Brian O’Driscoll with former Lion Shane Horgan and Trevor Hogan. Former Meath captain Anthony Moyles talks confidently about this weekend’s Leinster football fi...

Featuring Eddie O'Sullivan, former England international Jeff Probyn and Irish Times rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley along with the latest reaction from Warren Gatland. By popular demand it's a once off show we'll call (against our will) the 'Bodcast'. Make sure you also download the latest full edition of Second Captains @ The Irish Times below (July 2nd).Follow the lads on twitter @SecondCapt...

The GAA this summer has been rocked by a series of upsets and landslide victories - we talk to an inter-county Londoner, Rossie and Meathman about whats been a roller coaster championship. We also discuss the real taboo subject in Irish sport - the changing face of half-time GAA cuisine. Shane Horgan and Trevor Hogan discuss Lions player power and James Horwill’s tears, Murph's garden is back, Bra...

All the meats of the sporting stew included in this week’s show with Richie Sadlier and Michael Owen on retired players becoming pundits, Shane Horgan and Trevor Hogan on embarrassing pre-match huddles and Nicky English on the trials of being a celebrity hurling manager. All this plus wimpy tennis players, tough as nails boxer Matthew Macklin, Pierce Brosnan emigrant shout outs (#PBESO) and the fo...