Who'd have thought we could do such a weather dominated show without Johnny? Our spiritual leader is absent but there's plenty to rabbit on about this week, with Graham Gartland stepping in to shoot the breeze with Dan about the dark clouds that hovered over Dundalk. In a Dundalk dominated mailbag, Dan warns that the future forecast remains uncertain. Then, we go Stateside for some hailstorms, or to the manager of Northern Colorado Hailstorm to be precise with Eamon Zayed dialling in for his LOI...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 32 min
Interesting standards of rabbit pulling and random phonecalls a-go-go, as episode 300 takes you on a seat of your pants ride through the last eight years of football on this fair isle. The honeymoon period feels definitely over as middle age approaches and our hosts get showered with accolades from all walks of footballing life, well in Johnny’s perfect world they would. But in this imperfect topsy turvy world it would be remiss not to turn our attention to the Dundalk crisis and FAI Cup matters...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 52 min
In a week of reunions this is really the one you’ve been waiting for. A surprisingly energised Dan returns to clean up after Johnny’s ‘you let Dougal do a funeral’ interim stint in charge. Amid the wreckage, we lament Northern accents, misinformed ministers, analogue opinions, and Larne before Dan tries to bury some inaccuracies in the interminable TV and standards debates. In our Galway United segment, Johnny gets hold of Ollie Horgan to discuss their top four chances amongst other things and w...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 29 min
It’s a double act this week but not the usual one. Taciturn northerner Garry Doyle joins our normal “fan with a typewriter” Johnny Ward as we trawl through the week’s news which is not too harsh on Pats, but harsh on RTE and rugby fans. But isn’t rugby a popular sport? Not before 1987 apparently and Andy Farrell raises some questions too. Back with the roundy ball and we dip into the U19 league which has a Drogheda team flying, and United Park (or is it Weavers?) gets a thumbs up from the lads t...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 9 min
It’s hosts with notes this week as Johnny is overwhelmed by the sheer professionalism of his co-hosts who ably step in for a paternity left Dan McDonnell in the sunny surroundings of Oliver Marketing. Yes, it’s a full studio this week as Johnny is joined by the Robin to Dan’s Batman in Sean O’Connor, a fledgling journalist who’s more than finding his feet in this years league press boxes. Alongside Sean is another Boy Wonder in Keith Treacy who’s commentating skills were pushed to the limits thi...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 42 min
Reunited for at least the second time, the veterans of not one but two lengthy group-stages European campaigns join a solo Johnny and a stand in producer for the 27th episode of season 8 from a sunny Oliver studios. First in the door is Ciaran Kilduff, who might be a tad irate about the perception of the women’s game, while his old teammate Ronan Finn has his ideas about what a club should be about: winning matches. Even though his student days are behind him and maybe his coaching days in front...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 20 min
It's not a standard show, as we record on Monday night after Shels scoreless draw with Derry City and it appears that the burning question is - what is the standard? Owen Heary, a multiple league winner with Shels, dials in to offer his take on the panache free situation at the top of the table and mull over what happens from here. There's plenty of love for the League of Ireland from Luke Dennison, the Drogheda United goalkeeper from California, who chatted with Dan after their draw with Bohemi...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 12 min
The boys are back face to face in Oliver after a weekend of mixed emotions with JW mourning Galway disappointment and Dan energised by a casual Friday of tram and pram pushing in Dalymount. After a giddy reunion featuring urinal banter, the perils of pissing money down the drain, and tales of wrong weddings and inaccurately named children, Paddy Kavanagh stops by to talk football, agents and modern wages before offering his two cents on the state of the game. We’ve also got the return of Pat’s c...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 19 min
We are in peak LOI in Europe time, which means the annual state of the nation debates about our league although this week’s pod veers off into a discussion on the state of several other nations. Dan has declared Derry’s defeat to Bruno’s Magpies the most damaging in recent league history but Johnny thinks the pub talk will disappear from memory and wonders if some of these UEFA countries should do the same. Conan Byrne stops by after watching Shamrock Rovers lose to Sparta Prague to offer a slig...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 16 min
The boys are sort of back in town, if not in the same room, as post-Euros Dan reflects on the contrast between the glory of Germany and the survival instincts of Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on Tuesday night. Johnny was there for the great escape, catching words with Johnny Kenny, the hero of the first half hour, before waking on Wednesday to confirmation that Galway United have eventually tempted one of their wild geese back home. Johnny talks European ambitions with Greg Cunningham and the diff...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 5 min
It's just after the final whistle in Iceland, and no, not the one Mum's go to, so we look at the game with old friend Barry Murphy who married his debs date and ain't happy with certain goalkeeping pundits. We've also got a Derry double act with Hoban and Higgins and Dan stops by from the semi to pose a perplexing quiz question. No Collar & Cuff mailbag this week because our announcer is too busy writing Bob Dylan's liner notes, but we do have the saves of the season so far, the Caoimhin Kel...
Jul 10, 2024•45 min
A title race!? In July!? With no Shamrock Rovers!? With THEIR reputation! No, it's not Roly from "The Fast Show" but our two regulars who are joined by sometime RTE co-commentator and very busy all rounder Paul Corry to discuss, dissect, analyse and eulogise the demise of the Shamrock Rovers title challenge. Is it goalkeeper problems? Where's the manager's head at? Transfers? And is their best chance this season in Europe? All of these questions in the hand-stitched mailbag are pondered by our c...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 1 min
"Parenthood", "Strangers On A Train", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Family Guy", and "The Saint". No it's not the films leaving Netflix this month, rather it's the topics of discussion on this week's brief, disjointed, somewhat chaotic, trans European pod. With Dan dialling in from a substandard German hotel room with tales of darts players and sharing Paul Cook anecdotes on a train, we remember Tommie Gorman and Joe Heron, analyse the European draws, and listen to Johnny mull over the League ...
Jun 26, 2024•37 min
It's horses for courses this week as we have our final show before our midterm break. As the European election posters come down, we embark on our own leadership debate with a review of the season so far with the help of studio guest Graham Gartland. We discuss inappropriate trips to Croatia, Rovers goalkeeping woes, the secrets to Shelbourne’s defensive success, and the battle at the bottom. And, yes, we even do title predictions. Dan also checks in with the lesser heard Keith Long to chat abou...
Jun 14, 2024•1 hr 27 min
It's a laid up Dan with an unexciting back story that leads us in to episode 18 on the back of astro wars, Pat's problems, baby stories, Metallica funerals, the perfect 10 and who's season will the cup save. It's hard to call a bottom 2 but not as hard as Galway's 10 defenders or being sent to Sligo like Reece Hutchinson, or the male Reese Witherspoon as he's now known. We chat about his cool intentions as he walked the line in Derry, and life in a Rovers dressing room packed full of kids who ar...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Episode 17 sees Johnny flummoxed by a 'Legal Blonde' from a Sunday night on the northside that plunges him into a Monday morning Big Brother dystopian reality. Unlike Clough and Taylor, it's a big week for Damien Duff and his football wife as they keep on keeping on to stay ahead of the posse at the top of the league, we discuss can they stay there and try not to keep mentioning Galway. We welcome Dundalk legend Jurgen Klopp - sorry it’s Dane Massey - into our Oliver studios to ask where his 201...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 21 min
We've a warchest of stories and an infusion of intellectual capital in this weeks episode. Johnny introduces the Right shoe diaries to Damien Duff in between bouts of cat strangling orgasms and earth burning Gaza rants on short lived marriages. Dan ruminates on what a world would look like if football was golf, introduces Shelabrations to a new world lexicon and takes Louth Dad jokes to another level. A not quite sexagenarian Johnny McDonnell drops by our Oliver Studios to weigh in on the Stephe...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 18 min
It's Saint Stephens Day and he's back on the grass. Our unexpected Episode 15 captures the events of the last 24 hours with analysis of the Stephen Kenny appointment, his opening press conference and badly photoshopped send ups of a certain Independent sportswriter. There's old magazines, more Brian Kerr chat, Stephen O'Donnell not in the nip, the importance of big personalities and the pressure that extra attention brings. It's a hastily produced bitesize episode here to feed your news addictio...
May 17, 2024•37 min
So where do we start? The lads reflect on the maddest week of League of Ireland news since last week, with the Stephen Kenny flirtation with a League of Ireland return prompting a review of our St Patrick's Athletic perceptions. Noel King's 25 day stint as Dundalk manager is over, but the legacy of the day may be a tweet that the internet will never forget. In another bulging mailbag, there's talk of political football and Dail visits, the saving of Tolka Park, a new spate of ten match bans and ...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 19 min
Dan is back, although he's been outdone by producer Derek on the travel front as we attempt to sprint through the events of another manic week but find the path blocked by some substantial news hurdles. What does Jon Daly's departure say about St Patrick's Athletic? How will Stephen O'Donnell function as Alan Reynolds assistant? Is it 'Noel King's Dundalk' yet? We also have Johnny's chat with Ollie Horgan after a big win at Bohemians, with an unexpected Lionel Richie cameo. Beyond that, we have ...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Like Eric B. and Rakim, Sonny and Cher, and The White Stripes, all good duets must come to an end, if even only for a week. Don't fret listeners as soon as the sponsorship cash rolls in Dan will be back strumming harder than Garfunkel in Central Park next week. So for one week only Garry Doyle steps into the virtual studio to mull over the season so far, the always growing Damien Duff phenomenon and his formative years as an Arsenal fan in the six counties. The Collar and Cuff mailbag is burstin...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 5 min
There's an eerie flashback feeling to Episode 11. The Dundalk news has stunned our two hosts with Dan doing all he can to avoid crashing his car when he hears that Noel King has been entrusted with Dundalk's survival. Our listeners have stuffed our Collar & Cuff mailbag fuller than something something as we try to digest the big news of the week without the help of a chicken fillet roll. Johnny talks to Ronan Boyce and Dan hears from Stephen Bradley about the sandy beaches of Tolka and the g...
Apr 24, 2024•53 min
As Mister Sun makes a rare appearance, we say goodbye to an FAI chief and look at mythical leaks and manager rumours doing the rounds. On the back of Bohs' two wins we talk to James Akintunde after his winning goal and he tells us about hanging with his boys in Dunboyne. We delve into the Dundalk goal drought before heading to the chip vans around the grounds for Pot Noodles and reindeer burgers. There's underrated versus cult hero, Dan's holiday dilemma, the plight of small town clubs, and the ...
Apr 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min
As Hildegarde whips up a storm in Leinster house, storms play havoc with pitches and we finally realise that 8 seasons of this malarkey is completely redundant in the face of the Damien Duff renaissance, there's a gloomy outlook to this weeks pod. Ciaran Kilduff drops in to our Oliver Marketing studio to dissect the big news story of Stephen O'Donnell's termination as well as turning down numerous job offers from Johnny to stay at Athlone. Our Collar and Cuff mailbag is full of your opinions on ...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 15 min
March of many weathers hasn't really lived up to its reputation and the constant rain has left sodden pitches countrywide for an Easter double header. While Duffer, once he gets out of Johnny's head, bemoans the state of said pitches, and threatens to produce his own "straight story" on his Da's ride on, there's a missing interview and a catch up with Jon Daly and Ruaidhri Higgins before we welcome Barry Murphy and his geometric geographical analysis of when a goalkeeper is not a goalkeeper and ...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 7 min
As Dan hails the end of the international break, Johnny has gone on an international break of his own, dialling in from France after a star studded flight. The lads discuss the big issues of the week, and go over some old ground from last week with the future of TV, Bohs and the FAI all on the agenda before we check in with Greg Sloggett to chat about the love story that brought him to League One. There’s also more than a word from our sponsors as Johnny chats with Future Ticketing’s Liam Holton...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 11 min
TV or not TV, that is the question, well the question Johnny has for himself with the Red Zone now in doubt because the prospective host has decided the entire medium is irrelevant. We move on from that bombshell to invite a central character from recent breaking news with ex Bohs assistant manager Gary Cronin joining us in the Oliver studios. Top of the agenda is what changed at Bohemians during the winter, the late transfer arrivals, the role of the assistant and the realities of losing your j...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 17 min
As Bohs start their hunt for a new manager, we bring in the league’s management to discuss the overall state of play with Mark Scanlon dropping by. Facilities, fireworks, Harry Kane's firestick and finance are on the agenda as positive becomes the new interesting in a mailbag aimed at our FAI guest. The broadcasting picture, pitch battles and the obstacles to a red zone also feature. Before that we discuss the next step for Bohs after Declan Devine’s exit, shoeless presenters, and the demands fo...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 29 min
It's antsy managers ahoy in episode four, as we trawl through the Zapruder film of the rainy nights in stadiums around the country. At Tolka, Johnny caught up with one of the less antsy ones, John Caulfield, after Galway United's narrow defeat to league leaders Shelbourne. Our Collar and Cuff mailbag comes chock full of conspiracy theories, manager angst, goalkeeping concerns and refereeing observations from a grassy Donegal knoll. Johnny got his goalkeeper fix in too when he caught up with Cono...
Mar 06, 2024•57 min
This week, with Johnny's job count at 8 (or is it 7?), we reunited two old friends who met as teenagers with no idea of the journey that lay ahead. Padraig Amond was the hurler under a different name from Carlow with football ambitions. Eoin Doyle was a ‘lunatic’ from Dublin with no idea that he could make a living from the game. But both these cats got the cream, one of them scoring versus Man City and the other playing for every club that wasn't in the Premier League. In our weirdest mailbag t...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 18 min
