The Second Captains Podcast

Saturday in Pretoria was supposed to be many things, a battle between two teams who don’t like each other very much, the teams ranked 1 and 2 in the world, a chance for Rassie Erasmus to finally coach a team to victory over Ireland… in the end, it came down to 2 hours of watching to see if James Lowe had stepped out of touch in various weird and wonderful ways.  South Africa 27-Ireland 20 - we speak to Shane Horgan and Ruaidhri O'Connor of the Irish Independent about why this was a deserved Springbok win, how a couple of huge errors cost us, and how a bruised and battered Ireland can salvage something from next Saturday's second test. Plus we join Ken in München to discuss what impact the French election results will have on the striking French footballers, England's buddy system on penalties, and the exquisite joy of seeing the world's biggest laundrette right beside your new hotel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There'll always be an England, and under Gareth Southgate it’ll always reach the latter stages of major football tournaments. This was his fourth straight ¼ final and now his side are one game away from back-to-back European Championship Final appearances. So what’s the bloody problem then? We chat to Ken from the stadium, accompanied by Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Athletic. While England may be the footballing equivalent of a week away at Centre Parcs, watching Turkey has been whatever the same length of time would feel like at Wayne Lineker’s compound. Fun. But maybe a little too much. Jonathan Wilson joins us from Berlin where - like Recep Erdoğan, he saw the Netherlands advance past the surrogate host country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a great week here at Second Captains as we chased Ken around Germany as he followed the Euros Circus from Frankfurt to Berlin. Murph also developed a sense of wanderlust and packed the car for Cork where he met with Jamie Wall to chat though this coming weekend's All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Finals.Join the party for a fiver a month – there’s no contracts, no hidden fees and no ads. Go to secondcaptains.com/join for details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dublin are out at the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland senior football championship for the first time since the “startled earwigs” of 2009, and it took an incredible second half performance by Galway to take them down.Michael Murphy and Paul Flynn talk to us about the end of an era (?) Galway’s tactical bravery, Kerry’s safety-first approach to handling a misfiring Derry, Donegal’s serene march to an All-Ireland semi-final… and why Armagh are a dangerous animal as we get to our final four. Plus there’s joyous local radio commentaries, the Sawdoctors in Fairview, central casting in Galway, and Branno’s requiem for Dublin’s dream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

England were truly awful for most of tonight’s game against Slovakia, until Jude Bellingham's sweet finish bailed out his country at the death. We get Ken’s post-match analysis from Gelsenkirchen. Southgate lives to fight another day but surely this crew can't beat the Swiss army knife?And Lars Sivertsen gives us his thoughts on the Spain game, Nico Williams' superstar status, and what this tournament has meant to the proud, skilful Georgians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our best of Euros show. It’s been a great tournament so far with underdog wins, Willy's mighty Georgia, Turkish finesse, lunatic fans, English mediocrity, and loads of 0.0% and 5.1% Pilsner Ken.Join the party for a fiver a month – there’s no contracts, no hidden fees and no ads. Go to secondcaptains.com/join for details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Gaelic football season is the party that no-one was allowed to leave for large spells of this summer... but now the blade is being lowered with ruthless efficiency, and the narrative quickly moves on to those teams left standing. Michael Murphy and Paul Flynn say goodbye to Mayo, Tyrone, Monaghan and Cork in short order, before we look ahead to this weekend's All-Ireland football quarter-finals. We also discuss the possible end of Conor McManus' glittering inter-county career, a Cork-man manages to be both bored and infuriated simultaneously watching his football team, and Paul Flynn's support for Louth wins him some Wee County love.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scotland have qualified for 12 international football tournaments, and they have failed to get out of their group at each and every one of those 12 tournaments. This time around it was a 98th minute winner for Hungary that finally put paid to their hopes.  Jonathan Wilson joins us from Stuttgart for the latest episode of Scottish tournament heartbreak while Ken was at the other game in that group to see Niclas Füllkrug score a late equaliser and further burnish his own sparkling global reputation, and ensure the hosts qualified for the Round of 16 as winners.  Plus there’s Ken's thought on pitch invaders harassing Ronaldo, a Grunge Week 2024 teaser, and the first rule of qualifying as a third-placed finisher (finish third). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our best of Euros show. It's been a great tournament so far with wild games, mad fans, power ballads, low-energy England, Mbappe's politics, and a happy Ken on tour. Join the party for a fiver a month - there's no contracts, no hidden fees and no ads. Go to secondcaptains.com/join for details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh Rory. Oh Rory, Rory, Rory. Lawrence Donegan and the lads wrestle with what we saw last night. Is it career-defining? How can it not be? Paul Flynn is with us to discuss two draws in the Gaelic football championship yesterday, with vastly differing outcomes. And there’s the Football Review Committee’s ‘sandbox games’ this weekend, trialling some revolutionary new rules - committee member Michael Murphy talks us through them.And there’s also the inevitable mentions of Bill Buckner, Scott Norwood, Doug Sanders, Jean van de Velde… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.