This is your LOIfe

Our last episode of season 2 is the footballing boomerang of the League- Keith Ward. Speaking shortly after his retirement from playing the game, we hear how Oriel Park and Dalymount kept calling him back and how his new chapter remains in the Wee County. Famous for his deliveries on and off the pitch, Wardy tells us about living with an Ireland ace, how an ice-cream ended a good run with Stephen...

Owen Heary is one of the greatest full backs to play in the League of Ireland. He’s also a man who used to win league titles with clubs which almost went to the wall after. The Shelbourne and Bohemians legend talks to Neil O’Riordan about kicking Pat Dolan in the shins, watching criminals walk into Tolka Park and how the FAI never bothered to give Shels players winners medals the day they won the...

DEREK Pender is synonymous with Bohs following an eight year stint in Dalymount Park. He’d been around the block before that, and played for the rest of Dublin’s big 4 before settling down just up the road from where he grew up. The full back opens up about his difficulties growing up surrounded by addiction in Dublin’s north inner city, and how football and his other work in banking offered him a...

PAT Flynn was a key part of the Shamrock Rovers squad that brought glory back to Ireland's most successful club under Michael O'Neill. Known for liking a tackle, Pajo was sent off 13 times during the course of his career - we think. The man who wound up Cristiano Ronaldo talks winding up Gazza, trying to keep out Del Piero and how his uncle secured him a deal with an English club by lying through...

Sligo Rovers royalty Dykes was a phenomenal leader for his hometown club, and later Derry City and Finn Harps. Never to be messed with, the defender discusses booting England hero Gary Lineker all over the Showgrounds after taking exception to a comment he made about the grass. He explains why he made his Sligo debut after a few pints in the pub, discusses the magic behind a most-unexpected Treble...

No nonsense Johnny Mac captained and managed St Pat’s during a career that saw him go down in folklore in Inchicore. He discusses defying hard man Dermot Keeley, why he had to get away from Shamrock Rovers as they were winning everything, and his hilarious ups and downs with a man who always seemed to be there - Brian Kerr. The Dubliner tells why playing on a dog track wasn’t the worst way to earn...

Scorer of famous European goals against giants, this one-club man somehow managed to combine a glittering football career while also a mainstay of Cork’s gaelic foot allers - even if it sometimes caused war. Dave Barry is a Leeside icon and in this episode he discusses his hilarious rejection of Jack Charlton’s flattery, resisting a move to a most unexpected foreign destination and how he had to r...

Tony ‘Toccy’ O’Connor is a Dalymount Park legend with incredible stories to match his glittering League of Ireland career.  The Ballymun man reveals how former Ireland boss Brian Kerr reacted to his decision to leave St Pat’s - and what he told him to do with his tea and biscuits. He also reveals how he had another tiff with future Ireland gaffer, Stephen Kenny, over demands to train on Chris...

Shelbourne cup final hero Greg Costello arrived back from England after being let go by World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles to a league he knew nothing about. Over the course of the next decade and more he established himself as one of the characters of the game, enjoying success at home and in Europe. He lifts the lid on a boozy pre-season incident that belongs firmly in the past, a ham sandwich-relat...

League of Ireland history maker and reluctant Lifestyle Sports guru Harry Kenny delivers his own verdict on iconic Hoops boss Jim McLaughlin and reveals some bizarre encounters with Leeds United legends. He also discusses the match fixing probe which marred his time at Bray Wanderers. The pacey full back also lifts the lid on Italia ‘90 hero Dave O’Leary, details his anti-Irish misery at the hands...

The League of Ireland is on a roll - but it hasn’t always been this way. The domestic game has so often veered from crisis to catastrophe over the course of its imperfect history. Yet it survived, and flourished. In this series, veteran Irish Sun chief sports writer Neil O’Riordan will take you back in time to when pitches were awful, terraces empty, and tackles over the top. He will meet the lege...