A brand new trailer for a brand new BBC Sounds series from the production team who brought you Where Is George Gibney?, Ken chatting to Daniel Wiffen, Ken chatting about David Coote, and a conversation with Gavan Casey, who's on the ground in Dallas ahead of Taylor-Serrano II and Mike Tyson-Jake Paul this Friday. It's been a helluva week on the World Service so far, and we're bringing you a taste of it today. If you like what you hear and you want more independent, member-led broadcasting, you c...
Nov 14, 2024•38 min
Branno was among the 38000 at the Aviva to see Drogheda win the FAI Cup final against Derry City - but the 2024 season isn't quite over yet. We talk about the violence in Amsterdam around last Thursday's match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, which drew the attention of world leaders in a manner unlike any Europa League game before. Dion Fanning and Gavin Cooney join us in studio to talk about the weekend's Premier League. Why have Manchester City lost four in a row and what are the chances of...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Ireland made 21 handling errors and conceded 13 penalties in an error-strewn 10-point loss to NZ on Friday night. But was it all James Lowe's fault for geeing up the crowd while celebrating a kick!!? We chat to Gerry Thornley and Shane Horgan about this performance in isolation, and in the context of this Ireland team's form over the last few years, about Farrell's spiky post-match press conference, about what happened the attack, if both outhalves are damaged by what happened, what changes are ...
Nov 11, 2024•56 min
The mighty (?) All Blacks are in town this week, fresh from a narrow, opportunistic win over England. They weren't outstanding.... besides the three incredible tries they scored. Post-peak NZ are not great, but still very good, and will take some beating on Friday night in Lansdowne Road. Jamie Wall is in studio to talk about Ballygunner's path to All-Ireland club glory, the breath of fresh air provided by new champions and new names at the top table... and the legacy of James McCarthy, the Dubl...
Nov 04, 2024•43 min
They've only gone and done it... we talk about Shelbourne's title win and how Damien Duff has succeeded where some illustrious predecessors failed. The season keeps getting better and better for Liverpool as Arne Slot keeps winning matches and rivals keep having problems. Mark Critchley and John Brewin join us to talk over some more of the weekend's football. How did Manchester United's thinking evolve since last month, when Mark felt sacking Erik ten Hag would be too embarrassing for the club's...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 12 min
On this week's edition of our World Service tasting platter; we look forward to the grand finale of the League of Ireland which sees Damien Duff's Shels needing a win to ensure their first league title in 18 years, Ken hones in on what exactly makes Ruben Amorim an exciting prospect for Man United and Lawrence Donegan fills us in on his cross-country expedition ahead of November's US Presidential Election. Plus, we pay audio bed tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle. Join t...
Oct 31, 2024•38 min
Just as we were about to wrap up today's bank holiday football pod recording, the news came through that Manchester United had finally fired Erik ten Hag. The very-much-in-studio-and-not-on-holidays Ken gives his live initial reaction to the most overdue story in football. (1.25.18) Saturday night saw a sensational return to form for the Real Madrid v Barcelona fixture - and a stunning personal humiliation for Kylian Mbappé - which dangles the tantalising prospect of old-fashioned intrigue and b...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 38 min
It’s been another hectic week on the Second Captains podcast, we’ve had the Champions League, the addition of Johnny Sexton to the Ireland rugby brains-trust in a non-executive capacity, and we also had Eddie Dunbar in studio, one of the best road-cyclists in the world. While Ken, told us about Oleksandr Zinchenko’s new book, written by FriendOfTheShow Raphael Honigstein. Join the party for just a fiver a month—no contracts, no sign-up fee, no minimum stay, no hidden charges, and no ads. Head to...
Oct 24, 2024•56 min
The Gaelic football patient checked itself in at the weekend, gladly submitting to extensive, experimental surgery in full view of the watching public. We speak to Paul Flynn and FRC member Michael Murphy about the new rules (or enhancements, as Jim Gavin insists we call them) that worked, the rules that jarred... and the rules that our Murph reckons they put in just so we could get rid of them and feel like we were being critical. There's also the latest earth-shattering press release from the ...
Oct 21, 2024•53 min
Howard Webb provided some good grist to the conspiracy mills over the weekend by getting himself filmed texting and earpiecing before Saliba's yellow card was changed to a red. But maybe the PGMOL supremo deserves some praise to go with the flak. At least his referees are providing an element of unpredictability otherwise missing from a lot of overcoached Premier League football. Branno brings us up to speed on his trip to Sligo to see Bohemians play their small role in the climax to the League ...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 11 min
The appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England manager has divided both the proud nation of England and the ignoble profession of football journalism into two camps: Little Englanders and Merchants of Woke. Yesterday we heard from The 42's Gav Cooney and Rory Smith of the New York Times, and today had his say. Have the FA made the right choice in appointing a foreign coach? Earlier in the week we were joined in studio by one of the all-time greats of hurling, Joe Canning to talk about his new autob...
Oct 17, 2024•39 min
Johnny Sexton has won European Cups, Grand Slams, has the all time Irish and Six Nations points records and is a former world player of the year. It takes talent but also an obsessive drive to get this good, and his new autobiography, Obsessed, explains the mental toll this took on Sexton. He joins us in studio to discuss his big breakthrough in 2009 at Croker, his pattern of bust-ups followed by regret, Lancaster's personality test, about needing to change how he communicated with teammates and...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 5 min
thens for breakfast, Barcelona for brunch, Fairview for lunch. Ken is back from his Grand Tour of Continental Europe, traveling through the night to bring you his thoughts on Ireland's latest adventures in the Nations League. Joining us in the studio to reflect on an international window in which we actually won a game is Richie Sadlier. We also try to decipher just what Lee Carsley is actually saying and why. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 14, 2024•49 min
This week we released a podcast on our world service - Sally Hayden, Irish Times Correspondent and author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned , spoke to Ken about life in Beirut under fire from the Israeli army - and such was the reaction that we decided to release it to non members. Sally explains the religious mix in Beirut, how embedded Hezbollah is in Lebanese society, the huge number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the internal displacement caused by the invasion and the anxiety of tomorrow. Ken a...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Ken has returned from the Land Of The Rising Sun, and he has stories to tell - of Shinto shrines (went to "one of" the most famous ones in Tokyo), Buddhist temples, and... storied sumo amphitheatres. We dominate the dojo in the company of our very own Alan Whicker. Branno missed the most dramatic week in the HISTORY of the league of Ireland last week, as he was recuperating from invasive surgery - we discover which Second Captain presenter was a constant reassuring presence through his recuperat...
Oct 07, 2024•38 min
Ken is back from Japan and we take the opportunity to revisit some of the highlights he missed over the last two weeks. We talk about the varying fortunes of Kai Haaland Havertz, Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer and Ange Postecoglou before Mark Critchley joins us to talk about what we had mistakenly anticipated would be the game of the weekend at Villa Park. Will this be the week when Manchester United finally pull the plug on ETH, or is it just too embarrassing for them to do that right now? Plus th...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 8 min
This week on the Second Captains World Service we were joined by Lars Sivertsen and Glenn Evans from The Athletic and the 1874 Podcast to chat about last night’s incredible win for Villa, with some bonus Steve Bruce cabbage content thrown in for good measure. Closer to home, the League of Ireland title race has gone absolutely wild, with six teams out of a ten team league seemingly in contention for the top spot. We reacted to Shels vs. Pats, which might just be the greatest game ever played in ...
Oct 03, 2024•39 min
Less than a year ago the Irish women's rugby team had finished bottom of the Six Nations table, were playing the likes of Kazakhstan in the third tier of WXV, had not qualified for the previous World Cup and along with stories of interprovincial teams changing in front of wheelie bins and 7s players being taking in and out of the 15s camp, there was very little positivity about. They have since come third in the 6N, qualified for the 2025 World Cup, made it into the top tier of WXV1, hammered Au...
Sep 30, 2024•35 min
The Manchester United content-creating machine trundles remorselessly on: another day, another humiliating home defeat. Jack Pitt-Brooke and Dion Fanning were watching, goggle-eyed at the latest United capitulation - this one with added red card drama. Tottenham on the other hand had a delightful day at the office. It turns out the only thing a Premier League crisis club needs is a visit to Old Trafford. And there's also Liverpool's almost-silent progression to top spot in the Premier League, an...
Sep 30, 2024•40 min
It's been another bumper week on the World Service and we want to serve you up a tempting slice of the action. There was our chat with Dara Ó Briain live from London on the best summer of his sporting life, Barney Ronay and John Brewin on the still smouldering City-Arsenal discourse , and a sneak preview of our brilliant chat with legendary former League of Ireland player and manager Dermot Keely, which goes out tomorrow. Plus one of the country's best GAA journalists Cahair O'Kane joined us to ...
Sep 26, 2024•27 min
The sport of rugby barely survived the Ken Early Rugby Special on Second Captains last week, but after a weekend deluge of tries, drama and upsets, it's back, baby! We do a quick series recap of "last season, in rugby" including a reminder that the international team did rather well in 2023/24, while the provinces struggled. Gerry Thornley joins us to discuss the 10-try interpro that went loco, Connacht's dynamic halfback duo, Munster's brain drain, Ireland and Leinster's outhalf subplot, Ulster...
Sep 23, 2024•44 min
We had been told that Manchester City/Arsenal games are guaranteed snooze-fests, but it turns out we had been misinformed. John Stones got the final goal of a 2-2 thriller in the eighth minute of injury time, and it was a game so rich in drama, so packed with shithousery, and so laden with meaning for this year's Premier League title race that we simply had to hear from Jonathan Wilson and Gavin Cooney. It might not have been a good week for Mr Mourinho in Turkey, but it will have gladdened his ...
Sep 23, 2024•47 min
On this week's World Service roundup; Ken offers fresh perspective on Mikel Arteta's professional pickpocketer scheme, Eoin reopens a 34-year-old debate as to who was at fault for Toto Schillaci's goal that booted us out of Italia 90, and we share some of our chat with the great Katie McCabe live from the eartH Theatre in London last week. Join the party for a fiver a month – there’s no contracts, no sign-on fee, no minimum stay, no hidden fees and no ads. Go to secondcaptains.com/join for detai...
Sep 19, 2024•26 min
Rory McIlroy was 4 shots clear at the top of the leaderboard early in yesterday's final round of the Irish Open, was playing at his home-from-home course Royal County Down, against a field shy on world class golfers... nothing could possibly go wrong. Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times wants to take away the stigma of choking in sport, thinks putting is the base issue and explains why he thinks Rory will win another major, but simultaneously comes to the realisation that he may be the last perso...
Sep 16, 2024•44 min
If Ange Postecoglou's set-up yesterday harked back to the days of Ossie Ardiles, Mikel Arteta's Arsenal paid tribute to the spirit of an even earlier time. The Basque has reconnected Arsenal with their roots - and what lies beneath. We also talk about Heimir Hallgrimsson's blithe lack of concern for Optics. Jack Pitt-Brooke joins us to talk about the North London derby, the measures Ange Postecoglou has taken to address what are quickly becoming world-famous problems, and how Arsenal are likely ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min
We welcomed Eddie Dunbar into studio last summer to talk about the impact that a series of devastating crashes had on his career and his health. Since then he has had another run of injuries including in this year's Giro D'Italia, but with that bad luck finally behind him, Dunbar has just won 2 stages of the Vuelta España, the second of which is the biggest win of his life. We talk to cycling journalist Cillian Kelly today about why this was such a timely reminder of Eddie’s class, why he has ha...
Sep 09, 2024•36 min
You want it to be one way. You want it to be one way. You want it to be one way. But it's the other way. Rice '11, Grealish '26 - a script written by an English sadist. Did we manifest this? Damien Delaney and Richie Sadlier join us to sift through the wreckage. What didn't they like about Ireland's approach? What could we have done instead? And what should we do next? We also hear the latest from the press conference where John O'Shea had to insist that he is not actually at the wheel of the na...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 26 min
On this week's World Service tasting platter we drum up some excitement ahead of Saturday's Nations League showdown with England, Ken goes toe-to-toe with Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce on TalkSport and Craig Ray tells us why Ellis Park in Johannesburg is the toughest place to go in world rugby, And the brilliant Ellen Keane chats to us about seeing magic, introverted extroverts and seeking spontaneity. Join the party for a fiver a month – there’s no contracts, no sign-on fee, no minimum stay, no hidden...
Sep 05, 2024•39 min
There’s always a quote; “United's high-profile catastrophic start to the season has rightly brought every player under the microscope, but the purchase of a world-class holding midfielder could mark a change in fortunes at Old Trafford”. So read the Daily Mail in August 2022 - the world-class holding midfielder being paraded around Old Trafford before a match against Liverpool that day was... Casemiro. We chat with Dion Fanning and Miguel Delaney as the Arne Slot era begins in such style that he...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Welcome to your free weekly taster of the Second Captains World Service. This week we had non stop entertainment from Ken - from Alexander The Great to Oasis to train stories to strolls with Sean Fitz - he is a true song and dance and stories man. We also chatted to Rhasidat about the need for speed (but when) and her poor health at the Olympics. Plus there was Transfer Deadline Day nonsense, the new Champions League format, a Time Machine malfunction, and a Rossie's plans to down the Dubs, with...
Aug 30, 2024•33 min
