Second Captains @ The Irish Times

It was a game between the teams ranked 1 and 2 in the world, and for a breathless 80 minutes, that's exactly what it looked like - a game of huge quality between two evenly matched teams. That Ireland were able to win such a match augurs well for the future, but there's enough in the here and now to keep us very satisfied indeed as Ken, Eoin and Murph reflect on a classic Irish sporting occasion, before we are joined by Gerry Thornley and Eoin Reddan to give us the Irish angle. And we hear from Jeff Wilson, The Golden Boy, one-time record New Zealand try-scorer to tell us just how awesome we are, and maybe give us a little hope that we'll be able to hold onto Joe Schmidt for another couple of years yet. Plus there's former Tipp hurling legends assaulting hard-working journalists, re-watching the game in a happy daze on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and late 90's Otago Highlanders' highlights. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is this... rugby country? The very real chance that life may be imitating advertising is the appalling prospect that greets the Irish football team as they prepare to take on old buddies Denmark in Aarhus tonight.Seamus Coleman and Martin O'Neill insisted that they and the squad greatly enjoyed the win over New Zealand but can they really have enjoyed seeing the difference in the way the crowd at the Aviva reacted to the rugby and football versions of Ireland?Jonathan Northcroft joins us to talk about his World Cup diary, Deadlines and Darts with Dele. He was mainly covering England for the Sunday Times, and 2018 has been a transformative year for the English national team. Is there anything in their turnaround from which Ireland can take heart? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's our weekly taster menu of Second Captains fare - and this week things took a turn for the extraterrestrial as Ken wrestled with the news that alien invaders had been spotted along the west coast of Ireland. In light of that devastating bombshell, the build-up to Ireland vs New Zealand seemed almost frivolous, but we had TV3 New Zealand's Ross Karl in studio waxing lyrical about Beauden Barrett, Shane Horgan on the things that have to happen for Ireland to win, and lest we forget - tomorrow we have a football show on all the reaction to Ireland/Northern Ireland tonight. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ireland defeated Argentina on Saturday, the team that has ended our World Cup on 2 of the last 3 occasions lest we forget, but rarely has a win over a bona fide top tier nation been so readily digested and then ignored in the rush to look ahead to next Saturday's clash with New Zealand. Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times and Matt Williams join us to take whatever learnings we can from last Saturday, before the hype begins in earnest. Are New Zealand all that brilliant any more? If they can barely squeak past an England team that couldn't win a line out, what have we to be scared about? Is Rory Best's position in the team under threat? We discuss the loss of Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw, and the battle for number 1 in the world. We enlist the spirit of Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell to turn the hype up to 11, Ken and Murph are at daggers drawn already - and it's only Monday, and we salute the return of the trash-talking Eddie Jones... after one moral victory. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-

Manchester City's crushing dominance in the Manchester derby means Manchester United are roughly back to where they were before the last international break. It feels now as though their recent string of comeback wins have been papering over cracks that haven't gone away, and the outlook for the season heading towards Christmas is bleak. Jack Pitt-Brooke joins us to analyse the Manchester derby. Was there anything United could have done to wrest the match away from City? And will fans ever really care about what many of them see as little more than creative accounting?And Tom Williams talks to us about how France is adjusting to PSG's unprecedented dominance. Tom also explains the reasons behind Thierry Henry's miserable winless start as Monaco coach. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to our spritz of world service goodness. This week we talked about happy Jose, the Manchester derby, Liverpool's mojo, and we made the case for Simone Biles as the most influential and most dominant athlete in the world. Plus there's Ireland V Argentina build up with Shane Horgan and Diego "Mr 99" Albanese tomorrow (next week we will be talking All Blacks)and we had a great show on Wednesday - Ken talked to David McWilliams about liberal Ireland's economic miracle. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the Centenary edition of Poppy Mania hits full throttle, James McClean and Neil Lennon have both complained that they have become the victims of anti-Irish racism in the UK. Meanwhile Nemanja Matic has unexpectedly entered the drama as a striking new character who could have a big future.In this bumper football show, David Sneyd joins us in studio to talk about the FAI Cup Final, the difference between happiness and joy, and whether the future of Irish football is Irish-based.And we speak to Rory Smith about the latest Football Leaks reports from Der Spiegel and its associated publications. Please join us at secondcaptains.com to listen to our daily shows and support independent, member-led, commercial-free broadcasting. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ireland eased their way to an 8 try win over Italy in Chicago on Saturday evening, and the two players many people were looking at to make an impact on their debut starts for their country contributed 5 tries between them - the hard-carrying, turn-over king Tadhg Beirne, and the electric Jordan Larmour. Eoin Reddan and Gerry Thornley join us to talk about Larmour and why, as Eoin points out, he's not just good at the mercurial stuff, but is also doing all of the things Joe Schmidt is asking of him. Will he make the World Cup starting XV? Eoin says yes, but he's not sure in what position. There's also Tadhg Beirne's all-around brilliance, and the form of the back up half backs. We also find time to discuss Ballyea and Ballygunner's epic shoot-out in the Munster club hurling championship, which led to an all-time great outbreak of mutual respect. Plus there's a new slot for World Service members to get excited about, and we find out hurling snobbery is not just for summer-time, it's for life. See acast.com

A little taster of what was on the Second Captains World Service this week: Davy Fitz on whether he set out to settle scores in his new book, Kiwi conspiracy theories, rattled All Blacks. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's almost certainly Julen Lopetegui's last day as coach of Real Madrid, after his side were hammered 5-1 at Camp Nou.We talk through the aftermath of the match and conclude that the European champions have problems that a change of coach is not going to solve.Jacob Steinberg was at Leicester this weekend to cover their match against West Ham. He joins us to talk about the helicopter disaster that claimed the lives of five people including the Leicester chairman, Vichai Srivadhannaprabha. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A taster of what was on Second Captains World Service this week: Man United's cunning plan, Murray on privacy and gossip, Champions League fun, beefs and brawls with US Murph. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Katie Taylor had a routine defence of her world title in Boston on Saturday night against a fighter who was woefully unable to offer anything on the front foot. Rather more dramatic is a new documentary, "Katie", which gets a cinema release this week and which offers deep insight into Katie the person. Director Ross Whitaker (who has made "When Ali Came To Ireland" and "Axel" among a string of great Irish sports documentaries), is in studio along with Katie to talk to us about her relationship with her father, heartbreak in Rio and living a new life in the middle of nowhere in Connecticut. We also look back at the weekend's rugby with Mattie Williams and Gerry Thornley, as Leinster's mask of invincibility fell in dramatic fashion in Toulouse, Munster defeated Gloucester, Cipriani went high and Simon Zebo annoyed some Ulstermen. Plus there's the fog of GAA war, the art of small talk with promoters (and UFC stars), and showboating. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Nations League may be gone for the next few weeks but the aftershocks continue to shake up the Irish punditry scene as Seamus Coleman takes clinical aim at Keith Andrews for criticising the team. Meanwhile the Premier League title race looks exceptionally tight with the top five potentially separated by two points if Arsenal manage to beat Leicester tonight. But does the table belie the real story - which is that Manchester City's form is looking increasingly ominous for everybody else?Dermot Corrigan was at Real Madrid's press conference to see Julen Lopetegui confirm that he would continue as coach at least for another few days. And we speak to Deutsche Welle's Felix Tamsut about an extraordinary press conference at Bayern Munich, where the club main power-brokers called the media in for no other reason than to give them a damn good thrashing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

European Rugby is back, and it was an excellent week for the Irish provinces, as Leinster and Ulster both won against English opposition, and Munster came out of Exeter with a doughty draw.Gerry Thornley and former Munster back-rower James Coughlan join us to talk about Leinster's thrilling style, Ulster's young fullback, Tadhg Beirne's best game so far for Munster, and Freddie Burns' horror-show. Joe Brolly has called for the UFC to be banned, and Ken can't believe that he's talking about the Ultimate Fighting Championship and not the Ulster Football Championship. Plus there's Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa, li'l US Murph's photographic memory, and Django Unchained. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ep 1291: Good Ship Ireland, McCarthy Charm Offensive, Natural Goalscorer Worship - 15/10/18 by Second Captains See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So it turns out if you insult Khabib Nurmagomedov's family, religion, and country... he's not going to like it very much. Conor McGregor's pre-fight posturing might have just seemed like good PR, and even a good laugh, but Khabib was deadly serious when it came to seeking retribution in the ring, and against Mcgregor's team, in the immediate aftermath of the UFC lightweight world title fight. Petesy Carroll and Joe Callaghan are on hand to talk us through a fight in which McGregor was comprehensively outclassed, and to discuss who was best served by the crazy, chaotic scenes afterwards - was it Conor, the fans, the sport of MMA or Dana White and the UFC?Leinster and Munster served up a brilliant game on Saturday evening, a game where strangely enough pretty much everyone had something positive to take from it. Gerry Thornley and Denis Hickie look at Munster's new attacking formation, King James Lowe, and the Joey Carbery Ross Byrne battle. Plus there's Galway's new rugby party HQ, making your own reality, a

It turns out Pep Guardiola can do pragmatism with the best of them, and the much-hyped clash of Liverpool and Manchester City fizzled out in mild disappointment for an uncharacteristically conservative City and mild relief for misfiring Liverpool.Instead we had to satisfy ourselves with an astonishing game at Old Trafford, in which Jose Mourinho defied the implacable forces bent on his destruction with a masterclass in rabble-rousing.John Brewin joins us to discuss that match and how things are likely to play out from here.But with some of Europe's biggest clubs also checking out the managerial market for replacements, is now the right time for United to act? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

**NOTE: This was initially a World Service members-only show broadcasted first on 2nd of October 2018. We have decided to re-publish the podcast today, the 4th of October, with the support of our members. For independent, member-led journalism like this in the future, please join the Second Captains World Service. Enjoy the show and thanks to all our members as always.**On the World Service today we have one of the most impactful interviews we've ever done. It's the story of former professional footballer Brian Lenihan who played with Cork City before getting a move to Hull City and winning a call-up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad in 2014.In April of this year, aged just 23, Brian was forced to retire from football for his own wellbeing. And in the latest episode of The Player’s Chair, he opens up to Richie about the mental health issues that lay behind that decision to step away from the sport.Brian reveals the difficulties he had in coming to terms with his injury, the suicidal thoughts he experien

Europe were deemed to be the underdogs going into the weekend's Ryder Cup, but it was very much an old-school Ryder Cup in the end - the US had all the stars, Europe had all the team spirit, and it ended with a convincing 7 point win for the home side. Malachy Clerkin had barely set foot back in Ireland before he came in to us, and he's joined by Lawrence Donegan to pick apart another European celebration... and another fractious US aftermath. Leinster and Munster will be feeling good ahead of their meeting in the Aviva this saturday, as they both had confident, assured wins against Connacht and Ulster respectively. Mattie Williams and Gerry Thornley give us their views on Munster's new 9 Alby Mathewson, Joey Carbery's instincts and relentless Leinster. Plus there's Tiger Woods' woeful Ryder Cup record, Moliwood, Europe's lovely and lame stars, and the father of Grunge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chelsea and Liverpool used to straight up not like each other. And yet their last two matches, despite being played out in a bizarre atmosphere of mutual respect and admiration, have been remarkably entertaining. Can you get it on even if you also get along?We discuss that match and some of the other weekend highlights, including a searingly honest and yet perplexing analysis of Manchester United's failings from Luke Shaw, and reports of Benjamin Mendy sailing close to the wind.Then we speak to Der Spiegel's sports editor Christoph Winterbach about his magazine's reporting of the Ronaldo story, which has made global headlines over the weekend. Raphael Honigstein joins us to talk about the weekend's Premier League action. If Liverpool's attack is not flowing quite so well as last season, is this because attackers are out of form or because Jurgen Klopp has decided to tweak the style of play? And how much of Chelsea's improved form can be put down to their improved mood? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and op