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The World Service · Daily

Second
Captains

Sport talk that takes the long way home. Eoin, Ken, Ciaran and Murph on football, GAA, rugby and the stories sitting just to the side of the scoreboard.

Latest episode

World Cup Wonder, The McGuinness Melee, The Value Of Assists

Second Captains · 28 May 2026 · 25:24

Welcome to fight week on the Second Captains world service! There was a Donnybrook in Dalyer, the McGuinness melee in Kerry and Keano and Bruno fighting on the internet. Plus we have a champions league show tomorrow and Monday, and coming very soon, the World Cup in Canada/USA/Mexico which will be really weird and really interesting.

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  • Ep 3559: Leinster Get Dismantled, Move Fast And Win Things, Jim McGuinness Throws His Weight Around - 25/05/26
    02 25 May 2026 · 47:33

    Ep 3559: Leinster Get Dismantled, Move Fast And Win Things, Jim McGuinness Throws His Weight Around - 25/05/26

    The other four Champions Cup finals Leinster lost were all close, winnable and heartbreaking for fans; this defeat to Bordeaux however was over after 20 minutes and deeply concerning for all involved. We chat to Shane Horgan and Andrew Trimble about all the things that went wrong in Bilbao, and what this means for Leo Cullen, Nienaber and Irish rugby. And in a weekend of massive games in hurling and gaelic football the Kerry/Donegal half-time brouhaha could yet have long-term repercussions for Jim McGuinness, if the lengthy ban for Dublin's Ger Brennan was anything to go by. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Ep 3558: Good-Bye To All That
    03 25 May 2026 · 1:31:04

    Ep 3558: Good-Bye To All That

    A day of goodbyes - Pep Guardiola, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Seamus Coleman, West Ham United. Ken gives his Premier League team of the season, and you … to be honest, you won’t be surprised by too many of his picks. Dion Fanning and John Brewin join us to talk about the end of the Premier League season. How good a season was it? Does Pep Guardiola leave Manchester City having proved himself the greatest manager of all time? And who is most likely to step up and challenge the new Arsenal supremacy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Arsenal Celebrate, The Choker Fallacy, SpyFall
    04 21 May 2026 · 27:11

    Arsenal Celebrate, The Choker Fallacy, SpyFall

    Welcome to winners week on the Second Captains world service! Arsenal are Premier League champions again after 22 long years, and Villa ended a 30 year wait for a trophy with their Europa League win last night. We got in touch with friend of the show Dara O’Briain and Jacob Hawley of the Screen Rot podcast, to reflect on Arsenal's journey these last few years under Arteta and to discuss the whole "choker" fallacy. We also examined the fallout from Southampton's expulsion from the Championship playoffs, we preview the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals, we grapple – not entirely successfully – with UEFA’s new format for the Nations League and European Qualifiers, and wonder if Carlo Ancelotti has done the right thing by including Neymar in the Brazil squad? Coming up tomorrow we have hurling and next week its Champions League and FIFA World Cup build up. Its a fiver to join, it takes 30 seconds, you have instant access to every show we’ve ever done, and all the top stuff coming up such as Ken at the World Cup, the Premier League and Champions League deciders, Madrid continuing to be insane, Rory’s majors quest, Leinster in the champions cup final, the munster hurling championship is getting red hot, and the football championship is getting real tasty too. GO TO secondcaptains.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Ep 3553: Westmeath Dismantle Dubs, Armagh Take Ulster, Working Class Golf Hero - 18/05/26
    05 18 May 2026 · 57:18

    Ep 3553: Westmeath Dismantle Dubs, Armagh Take Ulster, Working Class Golf Hero - 18/05/26

    After last Sunday's heroics Roscommon may have thought they had the 2026 Cinderella Team mantle all to themselves, but yesterday in Croke Park Westmeath took that title from them, and took the Leinster title for only the second time in their history. Dara Ó Cinnéide and Paul Flynn were watching an insane day of Gaelic football - a day where Monaghan even came painfully close to turning over another pre-game favourite, before Armagh finally captured their first Ulster title since 2008. Plus there's Ken on the GAA's talent drain to Love Island and we salute golf's new working-class hero, Aaron Rai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Ep 3552: Ken The Tim, Alonso Calling, The Four Mysteries, Ireland In Shadow, Salah Uprising, Yeats Fisherman - 18/05/26
    06 18 May 2026 · 1:29:14

    Ep 3552: Ken The Tim, Alonso Calling, The Four Mysteries, Ireland In Shadow, Salah Uprising, Yeats Fisherman - 18/05/26

    Most of the world wanted Hearts to win on Saturday but this little corner of it was an exception. Eoin swoons at the romance of his close personal friend Martin O'Neill becoming a champion again at the age of 74 while Ken confesses that technophobia has driven him into the sweaty arms of Celtic FC, a reassuringly old-fashioned, incompetent football entity. Rory "Jambo Unchained" Smith was at Celtic Park to see Celtic win the league. We talk about the game, the glory, the SCENES, and whether Hearts can do it again. Rory also analyses "the four mysteries" of Xabi Alonso joining Chelsea. Why didn't Liverpool show any interest? And do we really believe big Arne will still be there at the start of next season? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Cheat Week, Madrid Meltdown, Why Not Alonso?
    07 14 May 2026 · 22:58

    Cheat Week, Madrid Meltdown, Why Not Alonso?

    Welcome to cheat week on the Second Captains world service! It all started with the Arsenal West Ham VAR fallout and got progressively murkier as the week went on with the Southampton "Spygate" saga, Celtic's questionable late penalty against Motherwell and Florentino Perez calling out all the haters and losers at Real Madrid. There was also the news this week that Chelsea are looking to get Xavi Alonso as their next manager, news that astonished Ken given Liverpool seem a better fit and given how Liverpool's season has gone with Slot in charge. Coming up tomorrow we have the latest in our series of Fiesta Fridays ™ - last week it was Seve - this week it's bullfighting culture wars. Its a fiver to join, it takes 30 seconds, you have instant access to every show we've ever done, and all the top stuff coming up such as Ken at the World Cup, the Premier League and Champions League deciders, Madrid continuing to be insane, Rory's majors quest, Leinster in the champions cup final, the munster hurling championship is getting red hot, and the football championship is getting real tasty too. GO TO secondcaptains.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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