#LOICentral is a podcast with opinion, analysis and interviews on all the latest happenings in the League of Ireland, hosted by Johnny Ward & Dan McDonnell
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S09E20 Oasis, Keane, James-Taylor, Moses and Duff
1:28:13
1:28:13
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1:28:13Won’t somebody think of the football? After a day dominated by the latest Bohs jersey launch and another famous face performing an acting masterclass at the Cross, Dan and Johnny try to merge Tuesday’s box office activity with the oft forgotten events on the pitch. This wide-ranging session brings us from Oasis to Odubeko, and from Keane to Keena w…
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S09E19 Duff Love, Bohs Brilliance, Pat's Pressure and Chaos in Cork
1:32:23
1:32:23
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1:32:23We've had a double header in both divisions since our last show but there's only discussion point on the agenda today; what about those goalscoring Lomboto brothers? They have their own God but our main talking point, naturally enough, is how the League of Ireland will cope without its sometime messiah Damien Duff, who interrupted the regular Sunda…
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S09E18 Disappointed Drogs, Euro Draws & Ruaidhri Higgins Chat
1:08:21
1:08:21
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1:08:21We are back in Oliver’s offices to discuss a week that delivered an unwelcome twist for Drogheda United with the excitement of the European draws leaving the Boynesiders with a bitter aftertaste. Dan gives the lowdown on the story in a crowded mailbag that also features the content king that always delivers - an outraged Damien Duff. We talk dressi…
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S09E17 - Mid-Season Musings, Transfer Targets & Crowded Houses
1:22:53
1:22:53
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1:22:53AS most of the League of Ireland heads for the departure lounge, our co-hosts are back via arrivals to take their regular perch in Oliver Ireland for our mid-season review. We make it there with the help of a stopover on the turbulence of media relations in a small world, before ascending to broader discussions around Josh Honohan’s public feedback…
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S09E16 avec Graham Gartland, Johnny Kenny and Conan Noonan
1:10:10
1:10:10
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1:10:10Episode 16 took all the patience of Collar & Cuff, Future Ticketing, Sports Cosanta and Rascals Brewery to make it to the finish line. Recorded over two nights due to rural broadband shenanigans we eventually got Conan Noonan, on loan at Waterford from Shamrock Rovers, and Johnny Kenny, who was on loan at Shamrock Rovers from Celtic last season, in…
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S09E15 with Garry Doyle and Colin Hawkins
1:10:13
1:10:13
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1:10:13There’s a faint whiff of chaos (and maybe vomit) in the air at Oliver this week, as the usual anchor is missing and the reins are handed over to Johnny and special guest Garry Doyle — manager of the SFAI Under-14 Cup champions. Together, the lads in hats stumble cheerfully through a maze of partitionist football nostalgia, Stephen Kenny-induced anx…
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S09E14 Frozen Moose, Cork City reflections & Colin Healy/Moses Dyer chats
1:05:50
1:05:50
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1:05:50The boys are back in Oliver, alive and croaking in Dan’s case, to pick through the bones of another dramatic League of Ireland week. It’s Moose’s world and we are all just living in it. Why do people relate to his story? How talented is his bum? And what does this all mean for Jimmy Keohane? Johnny has been battling with his airpods to get on the i…
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S09E13 The Madness Continues & Mark Connolly Chat
1:23:07
1:23:07
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1:23:07After another double header of what ifs and if onlys, the lads convene to try and make sense of it all. We go from a rear of the year update to allegations of crawling up the backside of a prominent manager as we analyse Damien Duff's woes, the unexpected spat with the omnipresent Stephen Bradley and the aborted Aviva experiment. There's Galway rec…
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S09E12 Tight at the Top and the Race to the Bottom
1:21:19
1:21:19
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1:21:19It's another socially distanced production this week, and Bohs fans are partying like it's 2021 as they bask in the glory of an unexpected sequence of victories. In a jam packed show brought to you by our friends at Rascals, Collar & Cuff, Sport Cosanta and Future Ticketing, we reflect on a dramatic night in Dalymount, a testy affair in Tallaght an…
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S09 E11 - Born Again Bohs, Duff/Caulfield Remix & Canham on the Cross
1:21:16
1:21:16
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1:21:16We almost needed 90 minutes to get through a weekend where every club played 180 minutes in a league that is going the full 360 in terms of storylines. Since our last show, we’ve had several open letters, one managerial departure, two injury time goals for the ages and the death of a pontiff. And that’s before we even get to Marc Canham. We eventua…
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S09E10 - Top Drogs, The Relegation Slog & Firefighting with Alan Keane
1:05:23
1:05:23
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1:05:23There’s a western flavour to this week’s show with the on duty Alan Keane dialling in to discuss the contrasting fortunes of Galway United and Sligo Rovers as the league table begins to take shape. We hear from Tim Clancy about why Cork City’s season has gone south, ruminate what Liam Boyce’s indiscipline says about issues up north before heading a…
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S09E09 with Paul Doolin and James Keddy
1:24:00
1:24:00
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1:24:00Paul Doolin and James Keddy have shared plenty of long car journeys in their time and, after several false starts, we finally convinced them to reunite in Oliver Marketing. They were team-mates at Derry City and Shelbourne before switching to a player-manager dynamic when James worked under Paul at Drogheda. We mull over whether Paul was ahead of h…
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S09E08 The One With The Double Stitched Mailbag
1:11:39
1:11:39
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1:11:39The sun has returned and the mood has definitely lightened in Oliver Marketing as the lads finally agree on something. No April Fools on this weeks show as we delve into a monster mailbag to dissect the goings on at Dalymount, VAR light versus VAR la carte, and of course for the week that’s in it..The Galway Oul Lads club. There’s a quick interview…
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S09E07 - The One With The Late Night Letters
49:53
49:53
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49:53The boys are back in Oliver Marketing for a combination of a discussion of Dan's week on the road and a stranger trip down memory lane. A reflective mailbag brings us back to Plovdiv in addition to spawning memories of a different time, an era of late night love letters on Galway Bay FM long before Johnny was whispering sweet nothings as a co-comme…
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S09E06: The Shifting Sands of Irish Football with Jonathan Corbett
1:10:33
1:10:33
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1:10:33With the Premier Division on a hiatus, Dan is in Bulgaria for an international break that is unlikely to live for long in the memory and the first part of this show centres in on the changing dynamics and relationships within Irish football. Where does the balance of power lie? Are we really headed for a civil war? And who is fighting who? Jonathan…
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S09 E05 - The Tightest League in the World & Kerry chat with Conor McCarthy
1:15:35
1:15:35
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1:15:35There’s a few equine analogies this week as Johnny checks in en route to England to talk about the only race that really matters in his mind – the title race. We discuss the exploits of the Drog whisperer Kevin Doherty, working his magic to consistently shock the blue bloods, before paying tribute to the weekend’s mane man Colm Whelan before gallop…
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S09E04 Reds, Refs, Rovers & Richmond Reflections
1:13:31
1:13:31
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1:13:31After another fantastic Friday, we had a manic Monday and the lads try to rattle through a crowded agenda of talking points. Is Alan Reynolds in bother? Is there a line referees should not cross? Is Derry City's strategy doomed to failure? Is it time for the annual 'are Shamrock Rovers out of the title race' chat? Is Captain Birdseye to blame for t…
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S09E03 Conspiracy Theories, Climate Changes and Barry Murphy's Notes
1:19:39
1:19:39
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1:19:39We’ve a busy show this week, with our mailbag more flooded than Tallaght Stadium as we pore over the conspiracy theories, stadium rankings, and all the other events of the past seven days. Barry Murphy, drops by to discuss Ed McGinty’s leaky European efforts and to a cast a broader eye over the main elements fuelling the start of a season where def…
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S09E02 Norway, Aviva and Webster & Doyle
1:29:56
1:29:56
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1:29:56To mark the return of your 90 minute weekly fix, we’ve got a pod of that same length, and the main reason is the leftovers from our live show chat with Eoin Doyle and Dave Webster, a colourful pair of cousins with a few stories to tell. Before all of that, we pick through one of the most interesting weeks in League of Ireland history with the help …
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S09E01: 2025 Season Preview @ Rascals with Ruaidhri Higgins
1:06:41
1:06:41
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1:06:41WE are back. The League of Ireland kicks off this week, but we’ve already got a competitive appearance under our belt after our big season preview at Rascals on Sunday. A packed mailbag was condensed for a studio audience as we discussed the talking points of an eventful winter before welcoming Ruaidhri Higgins to look back on his Derry City lesson…
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S08XMAS with "The Rascals Loft Tapes"
1:13:51
1:13:51
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1:13:51It's Christmas! And before you count down to seeing what Santa has left under the tree, you need to check for free range pork under your car. All of this will make sense if you listen to our special show recorded at Oliver Marketing as the lads convene to discuss the events of the last four weeks and look ahead to the possibilities of the next 12 m…
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S08E40 - The Underdrogs 2 The Undertones 0
1:06:45
1:06:45
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1:06:45We are nearing the end of another season in the Oliver Marketing building and start this week’s show with a burning question - have Drogheda United recovered from their cup final hangover quicker than Johnny? We reflect on a final packed with storylines and debate what the result says about the respective protagonists and there’s a bit of Kevin Doh…
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S08E39 Live from Rascals - The Shelebration Tour
1:16:42
1:16:42
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1:16:42It's Episode 39 and it was live. If you missed out on our Monday night in Rascals, this pod will give you a flavour of the best bits. Like the title race, there was twists and turns in putting our show together and Shelbourne's dramatic success in Derry was the catalyst for a weekend of tracing down prospective guests. We left it late but Sean Boyd…
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S08E38 It's the Final Countdown....
1:14:32
1:14:32
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1:14:32Here we go! There's touts in Inchicore as the title race, our beloved title race has its Joey Tempest mullet stapled on as it faces the camera in leather pants. Yes, episode 38 is our ‘Final Countdown", as we prepare to rock Friday night with the boys pouring over the angles that could decide the destination. Can Shels hold their nerve? Will Rovers…
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S08E37 The PFA Ireland Team of the Year with Stephen McGuinness and Friends
1:24:05
1:24:05
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1:24:05It’s Jerry Maguire time in the League of Ireland and before we run away with ourselves it’s also awards time as the Premier Division team of the season as voted by the players is revealed by Stephen McGuinness on his annual trip into the Oliver studio. He’s brought a happy Mark Coyle in with him and we chat about his journey to recognition before w…
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S08E36 Sliding Doors, Friday Night Fever Pitch and Five Months at Pats with Stephen Kenny
1:10:19
1:10:19
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1:10:19Ahead of the most anticipated night of the year - our live show in Rascals on November 4 of course - Johnny and Dan are in studio to also look ahead to a vintage LOI Friday, which might be overtaken next Friday and overtaken again the Friday after that. The best season ever? Certainly it’s the busiest mailbag ever with Derry angst, Bohs anger, Pat’…
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S08E35 with Barry Murphy and David McMillan
1:06:46
1:06:46
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1:06:46After a manic week, we’ve got a Monday show for you as Barry Murphy and Dave McMillan dial in to join Dan to review league, European and FAI Cup matters as most of the league takes a little breather ahead of the final stretch. Once again, it’s a show packed with questions. Who wins the league now? Have Shels actually bottled it? Where now for Bohs?…
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S08E34 Tolka Thriller & FAI Cup Preview
1:23:11
1:23:11
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1:23:11We are so back. After fears that we were enduring our worst ever season, a Tolka Park game for the ages has filled the glasses to half-full and posed so many questions. Was it the best ever TV game? Are St Patrick's Athletic the best team in the country? Is anyone out there not actually involved in the title race? There's so much to unpack and that…
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S08E33 A full 90 minutes with Dermot Keely, Neil O'Riordan and Romal Palmer
1:28:03
1:28:03
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1:28:03Dermot Keely denies and then agrees that he was better without the ball but we are certain this podcast makes an argument that your life would be better with his new book. Dermot dropped into studio with the Irish Sun’s Neil O’Riordan, his long term partner in prose, to discuss the many strands of his life in the league he loves. It’s hard to summa…
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S08E32 Dundalk Survive, Zayed/Gartland Reunion & Around the Grounds
1:31:42
1:31:42
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1:31:42Who'd have thought we could do such a weather dominated show without Johnny? Our spiritual leader is absent but there's plenty to rabbit on about this week, with Graham Gartland stepping in to shoot the breeze with Dan about the dark clouds that hovered over Dundalk. In a Dundalk dominated mailbag, Dan warns that the future forecast remains uncerta…
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Interesting standards of rabbit pulling and random phonecalls a-go-go, as episode 300 takes you on a seat of your pants ride through the last eight years of football on this fair isle. The honeymoon period feels definitely over as middle age approaches and our hosts get showered with accolades from all walks of footballing life, well in Johnny’s pe…
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S08E30 The Big Reunion and a bit of Ollie Horgan
1:29:01
1:29:01
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1:29:01In a week of reunions this is really the one you’ve been waiting for. A surprisingly energised Dan returns to clean up after Johnny’s ‘you let Dougal do a funeral’ interim stint in charge. Amid the wreckage, we lament Northern accents, misinformed ministers, analogue opinions, and Larne before Dan tries to bury some inaccuracies in the interminable…
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S08E29 Johnny and Garry’s mad mad mad season so far!
1:08:51
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1:08:51It’s a double act this week but not the usual one. Taciturn northerner Garry Doyle joins our normal “fan with a typewriter” Johnny Ward as we trawl through the week’s news which is not too harsh on Pats, but harsh on RTE and rugby fans. But isn’t rugby a popular sport? Not before 1987 apparently and Andy Farrell raises some questions too. Back with…
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S08E28 with Sean O'Connor, Keith Treacy, Harry Kenny and Paul Doolin
1:41:31
1:41:31
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1:41:31It’s hosts with notes this week as Johnny is overwhelmed by the sheer professionalism of his co-hosts who ably step in for a paternity left Dan McDonnell in the sunny surroundings of Oliver Marketing. Yes, it’s a full studio this week as Johnny is joined by the Robin to Dan’s Batman in Sean O’Connor, a fledgling journalist who’s more than finding h…
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S08E27 with Ciaran Kilduff and Ronan Finn
1:19:31
1:19:31
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1:19:31Reunited for at least the second time, the veterans of not one but two lengthy group-stages European campaigns join a solo Johnny and a stand in producer for the 27th episode of season 8 from a sunny Oliver studios. First in the door is Ciaran Kilduff, who might be a tad irate about the perception of the women’s game, while his old teammate Ronan F…
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S08E26 Shels/Derry review with Owen Heary & Luke Dennison Chat
1:11:49
1:11:49
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1:11:49It's not a standard show, as we record on Monday night after Shels scoreless draw with Derry City and it appears that the burning question is - what is the standard? Owen Heary, a multiple league winner with Shels, dials in to offer his take on the panache free situation at the top of the table and mull over what happens from here. There's plenty o…
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Episode 25: Dalymount Days & the LOI’s Financial Haze with Paddy Kavanagh
1:19:01
1:19:01
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1:19:01The boys are back face to face in Oliver after a weekend of mixed emotions with JW mourning Galway disappointment and Dan energised by a casual Friday of tram and pram pushing in Dalymount. After a giddy reunion featuring urinal banter, the perils of pissing money down the drain, and tales of wrong weddings and inaccurately named children, Paddy Ka…
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S08E24 State of the LOI Nation with Conan Byrne
1:15:34
1:15:34
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1:15:34We are in peak LOI in Europe time, which means the annual state of the nation debates about our league although this week’s pod veers off into a discussion on the state of several other nations. Dan has declared Derry’s defeat to Bruno’s Magpies the most damaging in recent league history but Johnny thinks the pub talk will disappear from memory and…
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S08E23: Euro Review/Preview & Greg Cunningham Chat
1:04:36
1:04:36
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1:04:36The boys are sort of back in town, if not in the same room, as post-Euros Dan reflects on the contrast between the glory of Germany and the survival instincts of Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on Tuesday night. Johnny was there for the great escape, catching words with Johnny Kenny, the hero of the first half hour, before waking on Wednesday to confir…
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It's just after the final whistle in Iceland, and no, not the one Mum's go to, so we look at the game with old friend Barry Murphy who married his debs date and ain't happy with certain goalkeeping pundits. We've also got a Derry double act with Hoban and Higgins and Dan stops by from the semi to pose a perplexing quiz question. No Collar & Cuff ma…
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S08E21 The Title Race Hots Up with Paul Corry and No Shamrock Rovers
1:01:09
1:01:09
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1:01:09A title race!? In July!? With no Shamrock Rovers!? With THEIR reputation! No, it's not Roly from "The Fast Show" but our two regulars who are joined by sometime RTE co-commentator and very busy all rounder Paul Corry to discuss, dissect, analyse and eulogise the demise of the Shamrock Rovers title challenge. Is it goalkeeper problems? Where's the m…
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"Parenthood", "Strangers On A Train", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Family Guy", and "The Saint". No it's not the films leaving Netflix this month, rather it's the topics of discussion on this week's brief, disjointed, somewhat chaotic, trans European pod. With Dan dialling in from a substandard German hotel room with tales of darts players and s…
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S08E19 Mid Term Break with Graham Gartland and Keith Long
1:27:18
1:27:18
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1:27:18It's horses for courses this week as we have our final show before our midterm break. As the European election posters come down, we embark on our own leadership debate with a review of the season so far with the help of studio guest Graham Gartland. We discuss inappropriate trips to Croatia, Rovers goalkeeping woes, the secrets to Shelbourne’s def…
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S08E18 Pat's Problems, The Perfect 10 (Team League) and red carpet chat with Reece Hutchinson
1:03:19
1:03:19
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1:03:19It's a laid up Dan with an unexciting back story that leads us in to episode 18 on the back of astro wars, Pat's problems, baby stories, Metallica funerals, the perfect 10 and who's season will the cup save. It's hard to call a bottom 2 but not as hard as Galway's 10 defenders or being sent to Sligo like Reece Hutchinson, or the male Reese Withersp…
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Episode 17 sees Johnny flummoxed by a 'Legal Blonde' from a Sunday night on the northside that plunges him into a Monday morning Big Brother dystopian reality. Unlike Clough and Taylor, it's a big week for Damien Duff and his football wife as they keep on keeping on to stay ahead of the posse at the top of the league, we discuss can they stay there…
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S08E16 Shelebration Time & Johnny Mc talks Pat’s
1:18:27
1:18:27
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1:18:27We've a warchest of stories and an infusion of intellectual capital in this weeks episode. Johnny introduces the Right shoe diaries to Damien Duff in between bouts of cat strangling orgasms and earth burning Gaza rants on short lived marriages. Dan ruminates on what a world would look like if football was golf, introduces Shelabrations to a new wor…
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It's Saint Stephens Day and he's back on the grass. Our unexpected Episode 15 captures the events of the last 24 hours with analysis of the Stephen Kenny appointment, his opening press conference and badly photoshopped send ups of a certain Independent sportswriter. There's old magazines, more Brian Kerr chat, Stephen O'Donnell not in the nip, the …
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S08E14 Kenny Waiting Game, Dundalk Madness & Meeting Jack Moylan
1:19:24
1:19:24
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1:19:24So where do we start? The lads reflect on the maddest week of League of Ireland news since last week, with the Stephen Kenny flirtation with a League of Ireland return prompting a review of our St Patrick's Athletic perceptions. Noel King's 25 day stint as Dundalk manager is over, but the legacy of the day may be a tweet that the internet will neve…
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S08E13 Mayday Mayhem, Managerial Moves & Johnny Meets Ollie
1:12:21
1:12:21
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1:12:21Dan is back, although he's been outdone by producer Derek on the travel front as we attempt to sprint through the events of another manic week but find the path blocked by some substantial news hurdles. What does Jon Daly's departure say about St Patrick's Athletic? How will Stephen O'Donnell function as Alan Reynolds assistant? Is it 'Noel King's …
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S08E12 with Ian Harkin and Garry Doyle
1:05:06
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1:05:06Like Eric B. and Rakim, Sonny and Cher, and The White Stripes, all good duets must come to an end, if even only for a week. Don't fret listeners as soon as the sponsorship cash rolls in Dan will be back strumming harder than Garfunkel in Central Park next week. So for one week only Garry Doyle steps into the virtual studio to mull over the season s…
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