Second Captains @ The Irish Times

This week winter announced its arrival with rain that was general all over Ireland, nonetheless we've been having a fun week here at Second Captains Towers and now we want to share some of that with you. Before Ireland take on New Zealand in Chicago we hear from Conor Murray who was a guest of ours at the Gaiety a few weeks back. Can Ireland repeat the victory of Conor and the other men of '16. Staying in those most United of States we spoke to Defector staff writer Patrick Redford about the sweeping changes to the American sporting landscape since the legalisation of gambling and a Bond-esque caper allegedly involving the Mafia, x-ray poker tables, invisible ink, rigged shuffling machines and a handful of known NBA figures. And finally our resident Bohs fan aimlessly walks the streets of Drumcondra in search of an answer to Shamrock Rovers dominance of the League of Ireland - encountering ghosts along the way. Monday’s shows are free to all. To listen to our programming throughout the rest of the week,

Is Keith Andrews the new Mikel Arteta? Hard to say for sure, as it suddenly seems as though everybody wants to be the new version of the Arsenal coach, whose bulletproof juggernaut continues to bulldoze all comers. But it was another good weekend for Andrews, whose team personify the spirit of 2025. We also talk about the wildly different interpretation of the sport demonstrated by Real Madrid and Barcelona in Sunday’s Clasico, compared to the weekend’s Premier League games.Neil Atkinson and Gavin Cooney join us to talk about the weekend’s football. Have Arsenal broken the back of this thing already? What has Gavin learned from interviewing the Irishman working at the heart of one of the world’s leading laboratories of set piece ball? And can either of them identify the reasons for Liverpool FC’s ever-worsening crisis?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Orla Comerford has just come off a sensational year, one which started in Paris in September 2024 when she took a Paralympic bronze medal in the 100m and finished 3 weeks ago with double World Championship golds in the 100 and 200m. She joined us in studio this week to chat through the madness of the last 13 months.It’s almost World Series time, and reigning champions the LA Dodgers got there courtesy of the single greatest display in the history of American sports. For once, the hype is justified. We discussed the Ohtani miracle with US Murph. We also chatted to Andy Lee and Joseph Parker at our live show. Parker is a World heavyweight champion but his career was drifting until he hooked up with Andy in the last few years and he’s back in the ring this Saturday night in London.Plus there's former Derry u-20 footballer Jude McAtamney getting selected for, and then ruthlessly let go, by the NY Giants, the Guardian’s Jonathan Liew told us why he thinks a ban on Maccabi Tel-Aviv is not a ban on Jewish football f

Munster had 35% possession, 31% territory, had to make 270 tackles to Leinster's 117, had the inferior scrum, went down to an early try, and we're playing against a team full of Lions and Ireland internationals.... and won it easing up, with a 4-try bonus point.We chat to Shane Horgan and Barry Murphy about Munster's brilliant all-round display, bigger/faster/stronger/smarter Jack Crowley, turning defence into attack, Clayton McMillan's impact, Tom Farrell's emergence as an Ireland contender, Sam Prendergast's dip in form, and where this leaves Andy Farrell with NZ now on the horizon.Plus there's padel talk, Chicago 2016 and when a coach is the right fit for a team. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ken is on holiday!! Come back, please keep reading, there is a but coming.. Ken is on holiday BUT given the enormity of the football weekend we have all just lived through he is taking a break from his mini-retirement to dial in from the beautiful citadel of Milan(o) and bring you today's football pod.Enthused by the fresh alpine air of which he now breathes, Ken asks questions such as; Is Arteta a footballing prophet? What podcaster most resembles Mohamed Salah and what to do with those low-blocks and long balls. And we discuss what the appearance of Klopp on the Liverpool horizon may signal.We are also joined by Rory Smith of The Observer and The Athletic's Mark Critchley who take us through Manchester United's first back to back wins in the Premier League since their final two games of the 2023/24 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What an Incredible week we’ve had in Second Captains, and thanks again to our guests and those who came to the Gaiety both nights. Eamon Dunphy got the biggest Second Captains standing ovation of all time, and we have a taster for you on today's best of show. We also had Martin O'Neill at the Gaiety and he was keen to debate the merits of data and XG with Ken. And Ken chatted to Simon Kuper about his new book “World Cup Fever - A Footballing Journey in Nine Tournaments”.Click the player at the top of the page to play the show. Monday’s shows and the best of are free to all. To listen to our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-

It’s live show day in the Second Captains offices, but we still found time to send our best and brightest (and oldest), Simon Hick off to talk to Andy Farrell, on the release of his autobiography “The Only Way I Know” this week.Simon chats to Andy about what shaped Farrell as a person and a coach, how he has dealt with coaching with and against his son Owen, and how Ireland are shaping up ahead of the November internationals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ireland have fallen to their second defeat of the 2026 World Cup Qualifying campaign and now sit bottom of Group F on one point. Ken dials in from Lisbon as we talk through a night in which we came so close to a positive result.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finn Azaz was asked about Heimir’s comment last week that the Irish players underestimated the challenge of Armenia. “I think it goes further than that. “In terms of the build up, the wins against Bulgaria, the improved performances and results leading up to that game. . . maybe there was a lack of understanding of the challenge that we were coming up against away to Armenia, in terms of the occasion, in terms of the environment and in terms of them as players.” We put those quotes to Ken this morning, after he touched down in Lisbon for Saturday night’s World Cup qualifier. We spoke to Jack Pitt Brooke about Thomas Tuchel not including Jude Bellingham in the England squad and Ken discussed Steven Gerrard's comments about England's golden generation of "egotistical losers". Our new phone-in show KenCall was launched to great acclaim on the World Service recently and next week we’re bringing KenCall live to the Gaiety theatre stage. If you’re gonna be there, all the better, if not, you can still send in your

“I made a mistake that was not in keeping with my character and the standards I set myself. I am now taking steps to address the matter.” With Jim Gavin pulling out of the race to be the President, we ask GAA man Ciaran Murphy what his community makes of it all.Leinster have conceded 74 points in two games, losing both, while Munster have won two from two, albeit against weaker opposition. Sam Prendergast missed a penalty, a drop goal and threw an intercept pass in the closing stages of Leinster's loss to the Bulls, while Jack Crowley steered Munster home against Cardiff with a drop goal landing MOTM display. Munster play Leinster in Croke Park in 2 weeks time; let the outhalf wars begin.We chat to Gerry Thornley and our man in South Africa, Craig Ray, about the race for 10, Nienaber's new contract, South Africa's scarily successful evolution as a rugby team and we reflect on the sad news that Lewis Moody, 2003 World Cup winner with England, today announced that he has been diagnosed with motor

Brentford’s Sepp van den Berg showed one way not to defend against Erling Haaland this weekend: start the game by pushing him around in a mildly irritating manner. Don’t make him angry, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.Chelsea picked apart Liverpool by exploiting their known weaknesses, as detailed by Marc Cucurella after the match. When does a crisis evolve from frothing internet madness to actual crisis? And what is the biggest challenge facing Arne Slot over the next few weeks?Nick Miller joins us to talk about Ange Postecoglou’s start to life at Nottingham Forest. Postecoglou says that as a child he used to pick fights with people he knew would beat him up. Has he taken the Forest job on the same principle? How are the Forest crowd’s feelings towards beloved former manager Nuno affecting the reception of Ange? And are people still confident the good ship Marinakis is steering the right course? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The weekend's sport draws to a close, Monday arrives and you get a double shot of Second Captains. The world feels brighter, airier, you walk with an extra bounce in your step. Then comes Tuesday and there's a sudden void in your life. How can you make it six whole days without another dispatch of independent, member-led broadcasting? Well, we've got a solution for you, dear Monday listener. Listen to this week's SC taster menu, realise there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and sign up for the World Service for just €5 a month + VAT at secondcaptains.com/join. The gang's all here! This week there's the Arsenal x the RAF collab you never quite saw coming, Ken on why Team USA's Ryder Cup fans just can't get a chant together, Paul Flynn on what the GAA can learn from the NFL, and the recent apparent evolution of Premier League football into set piece rollerball.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a wild Ryder Cup weekend at Bethpage Black, for good and for bad. Despite heckling from American fans that managed all at once to be annoying, unoriginal and verging on the obscene, Europe wiped the floor with the US over the first two days of the tournament. And then came Sunday... Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times is in studio and Joe Callaghan joins us from New York to chat about Shane Lowry's huge performance despite the abuse he and Rory McIlroy faced, when the welcome change in atmosphere at a Ryder Cup spills over into something ugly, and poor old Keegan Bradley's captaincy from hell. Plus there's a slice of Ian Wright and SC after dark.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An explosive reaction to Liverpool's first defeat of the season maybe suggests discontent with performances was simmering through the recent series of late wins. Have we seen enough to state boldly that a certain Liverpool-player-of-the-decade and a certain almost-record-signing might not both fit into an effective Premier League team? Maybe not yet - but let's do it anyway. Meanwhile Arsenal demonstrated the virtues of combining power and balance in their comeback win at Newcastle, while Chelsea's board expressed their possibly-unrequited confidence in Enzo Maresca.David Sneyd spent his Friday hanging out with Keith Andrews and Brentford's director of football Phil Giles. The next day Brentford thrashed Manchester United 3-1. We hear from David about Andrews approach to the job, and why a club regarded as one of the best-run in the Premier League believed he was the right man to take them forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate O'Connor's heptathlon silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was one of the truly great Irish sporting achievements. To post 5 personal bests in her 7 events, some of them with a knee injury, speaks to a truly elite mental toughness.Derval O'Rourke watched it all, was left by turns speechless and emotional over the course of Saturday morning, and joins us today to talk about the importance of solid structures around Kate, the new stratosphere she has been launched into, as well as Cian McPhilips' tantalising run for fourth in the 800m final.We join Joe Callaghan, who made the border crossing from Canada to get to Bethpage Black, a blue collar course in New York, for a Ryder Cup that will have lots of bite and spite, on and off the course.And there's lovely sports Dads, the spirit of Seve, and we imagine what VR headsets abusing polite European sportspeople might be like.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What must it be like to go to sea on what is expected to be a normal fishing expedition, only for the captain to go mad and start forcing random crew members to walk the plank? The Chelsea players got to find out on Saturday evening as Enzo Maresca’s flurry of first half substitutions sent an already-entertaining game into the realm of farce. We talk about that game and the tribulations of a couple of Ireland players before Miguel Delaney and Jacob Hawley join us to talk about Arsenal’s draw with Manchester City. What was it about Arsenal’s starting XI that set off mutinous rumblings at the Emirates? Is Pep Guardiola really embracing anti-football? And what does Arsenal’s “spring-cleaning” of Tim Lewis suggest about the direction of the club? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Champions League has been a lot of fun this week with Gurbanov, the madness in Turin, and Liverpool winning late, yet again. We chatted to Neil Atkinson of The Anfield Wrap.Ken tells us about where he was when Newcastle played the mighty Barcelona in 1997. We also chatted to the sports editor of The Nation, Dave Zirin, about the NFL coming to Ireland, to Cathal Dennehy in Tokyo about the world champs and there's lots more including Roman Brannecdotes, the latest revelations from the Barcelona/Bartomeu internet manipulation scandal, and Trent's Ballon d’Or campaign.Tomorrow we cover Newcastle Barca, Cian McPhillips' going big in Japan and next week we have Ryder Cup, Ian Wright in London, and Branno will return from his trip to the Evan Ferguson show in Rome.The special guest at our live show in London next week, Wednesday September 24th, will be Arsenal legend and one of our favourite people in football, Ian Wright. Last batch of tickets available at https://www.secondcaptains.com/live-events/ H

Two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton, who was one of the best-known and most loved fighters of his generation, has died at the age of 46.Gavan Casey of the42 is in studio today along with Mike Costello, who was working at all the big Hatton fights in Vegas.We also analyse Paddy Donovan's rematch against Lewis Crocker in Belfast; despite two knockdowns Donovan thought he’d done enough to win the fight, as did the DAZN commentators, but Crocker edged it on two of the judges' scorecards.Plus there's Aoife O’Rourke winning world gold in Liverpool, Terence Crawford creating history in beating Canelo Alvarez and we look back at a narrow defeat for Ireland in the Rugby World Cup QF.IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING WITH SOME OF THE TOPICS DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S SHOW, THERE’S ALWAYS HELP AVAILABLE. HERE’S SOME PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP:WWW.AWARE.IE - AWARE IS THE NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH ORGANISATION, PROVIDING FREE SUPPORT, EDUCATION AND INFORMATION.WWW.SAMARITANS.IE - SAMARITANS PROVIDE CONFIDENTIAL, NON-JUDGEMENTAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT,

Nick Woltemade’s had his critics - some of the biggest Bundesliga beasts of all time popping up to give him a surprise pre-debut kicking in the media - so his winner for Newcastle against Wolves is a nice place to start today. We debate whether Evan Ferguson can learn anything from the advice of Robert Lewandowski, and compare the progress of the title favourites: Arsenal looking smooth and steady, Liverpool still trying to figure things out with their new signings. Mark Critchley and Dion Fanning join us to talk about the Manchester Derby. Is this the best Erling Haaland we’ve seen for a couple of years? Has Guardiola identified the hulking Donnarumma as the future of goalkeeping (and why does Luis Enrique seem to disagree)? What can we learn from Bruno Fernandes’ analysis of Phil Foden’s goal (an analysis echoed by his coach but not by any media pundits we're aware of)? And have we reached the point in the season when it’s time for Manchester United to sack their manager.The special guest at

What if, at 42 years of age, having spent your entire life playing Gaelic football, you were to take up one of the fastest sports in the world, one that most experts say you need to take up before the age of 7 or 8 if you’re to master the basics, and then write a book about it? Welcome to the live show launch of Murph's second book, the brilliant Old Parish: Notes On Hurling.Murph joined Old Parish, a club in the West Waterford Gaeltacht where his father is from, and over the course of a summer finds out just how difficult hurling is and just how much he loves Old Parish. We chat to Murph, Oisin McConville and Jamie Wall about "the glove", George Plimpton, village life in Ireland, football V hurling, tough love sports psychology, and why hurling is not a thinking man's game.See you on Monday for a Manchester derby Premier League show with Ken; we will also be covering the world athletics championships, the Andy Lee, Paddy Donovan all Ireland title fight in Belfast, the Rugby World Cup QF, the Ryder Cup is on