The Second Captains Podcast

Welcome to our weekly World Service taster menu which this week includes Tim Vickery on South America's keen interest in Infantino's Club World Cup, Dion Fanning and David Sneyd on RTE's panel, Ire V Lux and Tuchel's tricky start to life as England coach. We also discuss football midfielders' brain power requirements, transcendent tennis, we preview the URC final and next week we cover all the football, golf and GAA action.For access to all our shows go to secondcaptains.com/join – its 5 euro a month with no sign-up fee, no minimum stay, no sneaky contracts, and no ads.

Cork won a Munster final that "began at tea-time and didn't finish until bed-time", as Denis Walsh put it on Saturday night - a win on penalties over Limerick after a raucous, controversial, enthralling match that was perfect in its imperfection, as Jamie Wall explains to us.  Kilkenny won a sixth Leinster title in a row, but the real headlines from Croke Park yesterday came from Kildare, who won the Joe McDonagh Cup with a bravura performance on their biggest day.  We also discuss Murph's insatiable desire for TV appearances, Ken's hatred for "Freed From Desire", and a new documentary "Hell For Leather", coming up on RTE1 tonight. 

The Nations League final four turned out to be pretty good but it's clear that what international football needs right now is to reverse the FIFA diktat to make every emotional stadium moment sound the exact same.We talk about Ireland's draw with Senegal and look ahead to tomorrow's season-closing friendly in Luxembourg, before the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Joseph O'Neill joins us in studio to speak about his 2024 novel, Godwin, a New York Times Best Book of the Year. The novel, partly set in the world of football scouting and agency, explores both the exploitation of young African footballers and a particular brand of ineffective 21st century American liberalism, something Joseph has also written about in his essays for the New York Review of Books. And that is what you call a veritable smorgasbord of a football show.

Welcome to our weekly World Service taster menu!For access to all our shows go to secondcaptains.com/join – its 5 euro a month with no sign-up fee, no minimum stay, no sneaky contract, and no ads.

PSG are the champions of Europe after crushing Inter 5-0 in the most one-sided final in European Cup history. The night was a complicated mix of emotions; awe at the sheer brilliance of PSG's performance, respect and affection for their charismatic coach Luis Enrique, sympathy for the hopelessly outclassed Inter, unease and foreboding at a second Champions League win in three seasons for a state-owned club, and, if you are into that kind of thing, maybe a little schadenfreude at the expense of Kylian Mbappe.After the game, Ken caught up (in rapid succession) with Miguel Delaney, Jonathan Liew and Diego Torres to hear their thoughts on the slaughter.Plus there's Ken scooting under the influence, Doue's abs and Dembele the destroyer.

Bernie Sanders has been one of the most electrifying figures in American life for half a century, and is one of the most high-profile global political figures of the current moment. He joined us in our studio in Dublin this week for an exclusive interview, and we have a taster of the chat on today's best of show.In what was a massive week for Second Captains, we also had former Ireland and Sheffield Utd captain John Egan at our live show in the Everyman Theatre in Cork, Plus there's Ken's preview of the Champions League final, Oisin McConville and Paul Flynn on the GAA and Jonathan Wilson's football wedding plans.For access to all our shows go to secondcaptains.com/join – its 5 euro a month with no sign-up fee, no minimum stay, no sneaky contract, and no ads.

We're into the time of celebrations, drifting clouds of flare smoke, players grabbing mics and managers maybe dropping them. Palace, Liverpool and Tottenham all celebrated their big trophy wins in the last few days while Katie McCabe has been leading Arsenal's celebrations after winning the Women's Champions League. Spurs fans: we see you, we believe you. We address the concerns of some Tottenham fans who felt Thursday's pod was too focused on the wretchedness of the Europa League final losers, and talk about Daniel Levy's big call. Jonathan Wilson joins us to pour out his heart about newly promoted playoff champions Sunderland AFC, and reveal new information on the table plan for his upcoming wedding. And we hear from Ken and Branno on their big Bernie experience.

We have our provincial hurling final pairings, but Cork didn't exactly roar into the Munster final, enduring a nervy second half before finally putting Waterford away in Páirc Úi Chaoimh.  They'll face Limerick in two weeks' time, and Jamie Wall and Liam Rushe say farewell to All-Ireland champions Clare, while looking ahead to Galway/Kilkenny in the Leinster final.  Murph was in Parnell Park to see Dublin struggle under the new-found weight of expectation, and we also explore his new-found love for the New York Knicks... which we then pithily expose as lies and hypocrisy.   We also reveal how Ken spent his Saturday - talking to Senator Bernie Sanders in our office! 

Welcome to our weekly World Service taster menu which this week includes an in-depth look at a Europa League final result that's produced so many talking points for both Spurs and Man Utd, US Murph on the New York sports fan and Pope University, Paul Flynn on Dublin's (surprise?) win over Galway, and Timothee Chalamet being a good sport.We also had an exclusive interview with former Celtic, Sunderland and Cork City player and more recently, Ireland assistant coach, Colin Healy. Last year, Colin’s wife, Kelly, sadly passed away after a long battle with leukaemia. After taking a few weeks off work, he returned to his job as assistant coach to Ireland manager, Eileen Gleeson. In December, the FAI announced they wouldn’t be renewing Colin’s contract. Just over a month later, Colin released a highly critical statement in which he said he’d been assured by then FAI Director of Football, Marc Canham, that he would be kept on, something which Canham has consistently denied. Colin sat down with us this week to speak about what’s been an extremely difficult year in his personal and professional life.For access to all our shows go to secondcaptains.com/join – its 5 euro a month with no sign-up fee, no minimum stay, no sneaky contract, and no ads.