Loi Weekly

Thoroughly modern manager Owen Heary drops by dressed in full Shels regalia to bat away insults about his weight and shed light on the new ownership and leadership situation at Tolka Park. The battle of Wounded Knee continues between one time serious footballer Des Curran and total pro Johnny Ward as he ducks the hard questions about the top four. Dan McDonnell is on hand to adjudicate and finally answer a question with one word. There’s two rounds of fixtures to look back on, Pats V Rovers amongst the previews, Student Scholarships, rugby pitches in Cabinteely and Johnny’s TV editing masterclass. Where would you get quality, professional, objective, compelling, informed, and most of all entertaining League of Ireland podcast gold? Answers on a postcard to…..

Total Podcasting this week! Comparisons with the Holland team of '74 will be justified as we present guest, or rather guest host, Pat Fenlon who takes to the pod like a Henrik Larsson parachuted in for January. It's the big two this week, and we have Jimmy Keohane from Cork and the controversially pronounced Patrick Hoban from Dundalk lighting up the phone lines. There's Pat's take on Rovers, Why he doesn't miss managing, behind the scenes at Waterford, a pink shirt and when not to tweet. All this from seven flights up in Dublin 7. Enjoy!

The length of this weeks pod is directly proportional to the number of fixtures, upsets, red cards and media training opportunities spurned by our studio guest Trevor Croly. Fresh from victory at the Dublin Derby and defeat in Derry, the Bohs number 2 talks about the 'Peoples Club', fixture congestion, Keith Long's recruitment and an underappreciated dress sense. Johnny takes up for an under fire Stephen Bradley and continues to miss goals, literally, at Bray and spends a windswept and interesting few minutes with Cork City’s Conor McCormack. King Kenny Shiels is on the phone from Derry because we won't pay his travel expenses and Dan is on the naughty step for using curse words at Bray. All this bookended by the best sig tune in all of Christendom!

In a breaking news episode we talk to Tom O'Mahony, the President of St. Patricks Athletic to discuss the plans for the new stadium complex in Inchicore and wonder what colour carpet will be in the upstairs bedrooms of the adjoining apartments. Limerick goalkeeper and Dublin 8 native Brendan Clarke gives us his 2 cents on the big news as well as secret records, goalkeeping howlers and eskimos in Oriel Park. There's a chat with Dundalk's Chris Shields, Ronan Finn on this weeks derby, an overtly ageist debate and who, if anyone, will think of the children? It's a bumper LOI weekly...and it's early!

This week sees Dan back from New York City to join forces with the two Johnnys. Yes, LOI Weekly ‘Hall of Famer’, Johnny McDonnell returns to cast his well schooled eye over the youth setup, the league, and whether Architects can build football teams with PowerPoint! There’s strip searches in Bray, Munster Derbies with Waterford manager Alan Reynolds, predictions galore and we try not to mention Fairyhouse. It's episode 8 and its here!

'Holy Thursday Batman, it's episode 7!' Rising again this Easter season is Conor Clifford who discusses his ban for gambling offences, boxing, and his quest for a new club. A less than penitent, Lee Grace after switching from Galway to Rovers is in studio to talk Galway exoduses and life with Rovers. We have all our usual banter and predictions in a three part format that dies, is buried and rises again as an all round egg-cellent Easter show. (Sorry about that last bit!)

It’s time for the LOI Weekly Saint Patrick’s Day parade! Johnny welcomes current St. Patricks captain and guest of honour Ian Bermingham alongside Grand Marshall Paul Doolin, former manager of Cork, UCD and Drogheda while Dan reports from the International parade in Turkey. Our guests discuss the recent Pats v Rovers game, as well as bouncers, ex girlfriend's weddings, the Irish abroad, just how good the league is, steak dinners and there's more fervent national pride than Cheltenham and that rugby crowd combined. It’s LOI Weekly for the week that was in it.

It's a multigenerational Podorama this week. While young Mister Ward casts his dedicated glare over the runners and riders in Cheltenham we welcome the silver tongued Des Curran, who’s age is a better kept secret than the Pod’s budget for coffee, alongside the regular of our two Dan’s this week. Our second Dan, the boy Casey, is the wunderkind from the heart of the Bohemians defence who chose football over Dublin GAA and Leinster Rugby when he was but a lad. In between Des and Dan’s war stories on knee surgery, we squeeze in Kenny Shiels on Derry’s return to the Brandywell, Dan talks to Saint Pat’s goalkeeper Barry Murphy after their result against Dundalk. We have predictions, tips, roundups and the view from the gantry. Des, Dans, Derry and Dundalk Draw. Anymore D’s and you'd think we had Johnny’s Leaving Cert results...

The snow has melted and so, apparently has the heart of oft injured Dundalk captain Stephen O'Donnell, who tells us he's getting married in November. After, of course, this intriguing new season is over! But it's far from over now and the big game on tele this week is Dundalk v Cork so to balance the books we bring in legal eagle Neal Horgan from the republic to cast a southern eye over the tie. Also this week, Dan and Johnny ask, is there such a thing as a player manager? How long is too long to spend in the toilets at a Lithuanian wedding? Who would Stephen like to be snowbound with? and are Bray suffering from a crisis of confidence? All this and not a snowflake in site, unless you count the producer!

Recorded over Skype, much to the chagrin of our perfectionist Professor of Sound, we soldier on through the arctic conditions. With the lack of bread affecting Johnny's mental sharpness and Dan huddled over a three bar SuperSer the comparisons with '82 are unavoidable. Be prepared for a polar affected pod where we ask Is Roddy Collins still at Athlone? Is Sean Connor back in the league? and are Snowballs at linesmen allowed under FIFA rules? We have Kenny Shiels dropping grenades, The Brandywell reopening, and our very first breaking news story. If you're sick of those bread videos on 'WhatsApp' then this won't help a bit...

A dead horse, a taxi driver with an unimportant name, a worst injuries competition, and a prodigal son. No, it’s not the script for the new Coen Brothers movie it’s just what happens when the two Johnnys are in studio. Joining Messers. McDonnell and Ward this week in our studio are Johnny Dunleavy of Cork City, and, only one letter short of a millionaire thriller writer, we have Tim Clancy, who’s one of the youngest managers in the league up in Drogheda. We have an interview with ex Cork City hero Sean Maguire and our long awaited preview of the first division. All this and some anthem whistling to boot!

We're back! An extended season opener featuring Ger O'Brien from Saint Pats in the original studio. We also have interviews with Shane Keegan, Raff Cretaro and Stephen McGuinness from the league launch on Tuesday. So, expect predictions, in depth analysis, steak house recommendations and lower level mathematics as well as a brand new theme tune all the way from Washington DC! Game on.

Remember when Roy of the Rovers Annuals gave you the chance to see what black and white weekly characters like Hot Shot Hamish and Johnny Dexter looked like in glossy colour? Well we've brought back two old favourites for the festive season. Glossy Paul Corry, ex-Shamrock Rovers, drops in to give us his 2c while the ever colourful James Chambers jets in from Philly to chip in his festive bon mots. It's all about the opening fixtures, the ins and outs of transfer deals and the greatest league in the world. Happy Christmas!

"Don't Look Back" screamed the Nobel Laureate back in 1965. Corks Crocked Captain Johnny Dunleavy didn't pay any attention as he swaggers into studio to take Johnny Ward to task for the sins of the past. Joined by Dan and Bohemian goalkeeper Shane Supple for a nostalgic look back at the season that was and a look at your votes for the team of the season. Shane also found time to push team mate Dinny Corcoran on his penchant for Dutch Gold and it took us only 38 episodes to work a Dylan reference into the description.

As Johnny sings the relegation blues in G minor, Ger O'Brien ex captain of Saint Pat's drops in to relive the great escape. He also regales us with tales of Owen Garvan's dressing room hopping and lack of singing ability. There's Dan's week of press trips, Kenny Shiels' bag of cans, and who's going to win the cup? We've got twenty quids worth of tickets to give away if you still care.....

In an attempt to curb the enthusiasm of Johnny and stem the 'Galway United Weekly' movement, Dan invited Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny into the pod this week. Dundalk's last game of the league season is proving crucial to Galway's season and it all makes for a pretty pretty pretty good show. Oh, and it sounds fantastic too!

Even after Ophelia toasted our studio, our equipment and our sound engineer we managed to rustle up two tin cans and an iString to record a highly entertaining if somewhat retro sounding Brian Kerr chat. Johnny McDonnell dropped in as well, so we went all out to recreate a Faroe Island commentary box audio feel. Apologies for the poor sound quality. Blame the wind....

In an unashamedly honest reflection on an injury blighted career, Shamrock Rovers' Paul Corry joins Dan and Johnny in studio to talk about his decision to retire from football at the age of 26. There's also a look back on Tuesday nights epic FAI Cup semi final replay and that Stephen Bradley incident, as well as predictions, impromptu host auditions and Johnny's explanation of Dan's genealogy.

As we near the "end of the line" for this season, ex Limerick manager Martin Russell drops by to see if "even the losers" will get lucky sometime and run down Johnny's Galway dreams. Lending a media trained "Southern Accent" to this weeks show while celebrating his miscellaneous birthday is Cork City's Alan Bennett, who plagiarises Alanis Morissette, and reveals that "The Waiting" is the hardest part. We have our say on the Kevin Doyle concussion debate as well as a feisty predictions round and a look back on the FAI Cup "Big Weekend". That's more than enough Tom Petty titles for one week, but he was definitely one of the good guys...

After an Italian honeymoon Dan is reunited with Johnny who comes up with some terrible excuses to explain away his unfaithfulness. Ironically this weeks liaison is recorded at an unnamed hotel as Dan’s first dalliance away from married life includes an illicit rendezvous with old team mates Raf Cretaro of Sligo and Gavin Peers of St.Pat’s to discuss the relegation battle and a certain memoir. Meanwhile Johnny plays away with Kieran Sadlier who is almost a champion with Cork City. Also up for discussion is the weekends semi finals, the expected attendances at the FAI cup final, Vietnamese cuisine, FIFA 18, and if anyone has any spare LCD Soundsystem tickets…..