Second Captains @ The Irish Times

The opening weekend hasn't even finished and Ken already wants to walk back Thursday's top four predictions. Is he getting carried away by one 90 minute Newcastle demolition job? The next couple of games will tell us a lot. We talk about the continued transfer frenzy as Chelsea aim to follow up their signing of Moises Caicedo by adding Romeo Lavia - who Liverpool have forlornly gone back to - and, it says here, Michael Olise. Rich Jolly and Jack Pitt-Brooke join us to talk about the opening weekend. Do Chelsea have just the right type of squad to bring the best out of Mauricio Pochettino? Can anyone understand how Chelsea can afford what they're doing? And how do Spurs really feel about selling Harry Kane to Bayern?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether you're ready for it or not, the Premier League is back with Burnley taking on the treble winners Manchester City tomorrow night. We caught up with Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin to ask all the important questions ahead of the upcoming season - Can anyone lay a glove on City? Is England's Declan Rice the man to help Arsenal kick on even further? And can anyone make as big a mess of it as Ken did with last season’s predictions?Plus, it's been a roaringly successful Synth Week on the World Service with the listener entries pouring in. 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 information.

Caelan Doris was the clear man of the match for Ireland at the weekend, but the most important performance came from outhalf Jack Crowley. His season ended well with Munster, and he continued that good form against Italy. Is he now ahead of Ross Byrne?We chat to Shane Horgan about World Cup warm ups, trying too hard, the back three contenders, dangerous Scots and how Farrell, Catt and O'Connell's horrible experiences at World Cups might be shaping the easy breezy approach this time around.Johnny Sexton will play in a training match against Portugal this week but because of his ban it is most definitely not a game of rugby he is taking part in.Plus there's hat trick hero Amy O'Connor, the. battle of Bayonne and peno shootout drama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have entered the individual award part of the GAA Season aka ''silly season''. Where once this was all we had to get us through the dark winter, now we have the Club Championship and sure it's not even winter! But those factors aside it seems that individualism still holds a powerful candle in the collective world of the GAA. As we saw this week when tweets and talk turned to the POTY debate.The other great culture war that is this summer tearing at the fabric of our society revolves around two blockbuster films of no semblance to each other. Barbie and Oppenheimer. We sent Ken to watch and review one of them.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 information.

Ireland's World Cup campaign came to an end with a clean sheet, a point, and a public disagreement between the manager and captain.  Gavin Cummiskey joins us from Brisbane to report on Pauw's last press conference of this World Cup, in which she revealed details of a heated in-game exchange with Katie McCabe about who should get substituted next. As for Katie's side of this developing story - she's not giving much away...We also talk to Oluwashina Okeleji, who looks forward to Nigeria's likely second-round encounter with England. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dublin are All-Ireland champions again, and if this was James McCarthy, Mick Fitzsimons and Stephen Cluxton's ninth medal, it was celebrated as if it was their first. Our crack analysis team of Michael Murphy and Paul Flynn talk to us about why this meant so much to Dublin, their mentality monsters, and how the day went so badly wrong for David Clifford. We also discuss Jack McCaffrey's impact, Brian Fenton's composure and Mick Fitzsimons' ultimate vindication. Plus there's the BBC's GAA outreach programme, a celeb-laden halftime show, tactile McDevitt, and taking a whack on the cheekbone for the Dubs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's your man Early like? A regular question posed to the non Ken Early members of the Second Captains team. In this week's Taster episode Eoin and Murph give some thoughts on their colleague - mainly that he's a bloody Pedant.While Oisin McConville joined our front-liners Paul Flynn and Michael Murphy for a very special All Ireland final preview.We also tripped back in time to 1979 to hear how a young Ronnie Whelan - then playing for Home Farm - led out an Irish team against the Basque Country in what was a very hot political atmosphere.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 information.

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 historian Quinn Slobodian which took a big-picture view of the Kingdom's bid for the future. Can those who profit from climate change.... save us from climate change? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 look at some extraterrestrial performances in the Tour de France and the madness of rain delays in cricket. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 in the press box as news broke about Australia losing their star player.Closer to home, it's All Ireland Hurling Final weekend with Limerick and Kilkenny set to clash in what could be some inclement weather conditions. Much to the glee of our senior analyst Jamie Wall.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 information.

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 Mendy seem to strike a chord with so many famous footballers? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the old-school dream team of Oisin McConville and Paul Flynn join us on the line. As we reflect and also look ahead to what could be a mic-drop final for Cluxton and co.While Ken details how he once lost €100k* on a Roger Federer Wimbledon Final, forever tainting his view of the white blazer-wearing Swiss man. He does though like this Alcaraz kid. *not real money Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 dorky Murph and young athletic Shane Horgan had 1 thing in common – the 1991 All Ireland Final The first one either had attended. Murph was smuggled in, while Shane earned his spot by coming through a gruelling, ruthless Meath mini 7’s combine. And with the World Cup now within touching distance we continue to bring the Hype.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 information.

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 the stand-out stars who look destined for bigger things.Murph was in Croker this weekend and once again found himself juggling the hurling action with cricket updates, all in the company of some esteemed guests. With Kilkenny in the final again, and Galway left behind, did Henry back the wrong horse?Plus there's 145kg humans, some worryingly good form shown by NZ and SA, Eddie Jones' hatred of smart arses and Murph bids farewell to Hoggwatch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 means that for the first time since the relegation season of 1973-74, United in 2023-24 will not feature anyone who has made an appearance for the Glasgow titan. And so the sands of time shift on…Ken also has some breaking news in the quite literal sense. An injury picked up over the course of the weekend has seen the Flame-Haired-Flame-Thrower-Of-Truth struck down and questions now need to be asked over whether or not he is fit to make it down under for the World Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 CoupJoin 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 information.

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 counter-claims that have been made.We also discuss FIFA's plan to trial Arsene Wenger's latest idea for ruining the game, before going through some of what's been going on in the transfer window of the £60 millions.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 and world champ Kellie Harrington. We chat to The42's Gavan Casey about the fallout from Kellie's controversial tweet in October 2022 and her tetchy, awkward interview on Off The Ball in March of this year. In the absence of any real clarity from Kellie on that tweet, we wonder is her reputation treading water until she speaks about it again.We also discuss Zaur Antia's incredible record as a coach and what Amy Broadhurst - who failed to qualify for Paris through these Games - has to do now to get to the Olympics.And Ken and Murph discuss Elon's hate hose and pray that one day he will switch it off

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 for our pathetic display in the Fair Play Cup - organised by the UNHCR & SARI (Sport Against Racism Ireland) as part of the first ever Refugee Week in Ireland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, and Tyrone are really starting to rumble. And we have Tyrone/Kerry and Dublin/Mayo to look forward to next weekend! Plus there's the world's largest telescope, Portumna's status as the greatest club hurling team of all time, and Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow's unsuccessful charge at a major championship.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.