Loi Weekly

Why is Lorcan Fitzgerald so angry? We try to get to the bottom of that question this week but Johnny just wants to hear about our studio guest’s favourite trip to Galway back in the day when he was just a player and not a player/coach wondering what the future holds for him. We were delighted to have Lorcan pop in ahead of Wexford’s big cup date with Dundalk and the only disappointment is that the clock defeated Keith Ward’s injury time text to Johnny. Dan also recounts his trip to Hungary, and we hear Rory Gaffney’s extremely modest theory on the areas where LOI clubs struggle on their travels. Meanwhile, Drogheda United chairman Conor Hoey drops in via Skype to discuss the reaction to his article declaring the club should go pro. And we debate if fitting a GoPro to a LOI player would result in some horrible misdeeds coming to light. As usual there's the mailbag and the Porterhouse Brew quiz, the live show update (tickets on sale Thursday folks!), and all of this comes thanks to our great friends at Future T

For fear of being sued for adapting a Nobel Laureate's lyrics, we're coming out of Como and Budapest. Radio signal, clear as can be expected, as we check in with Cesc Fabregas' team mate Liam Kerrigan in Como who is holed up indoors before 4pm and will be looking for Johnny's English girl approximately under the leaning tower. Liam also fills us in on his years at UCD and his relationship with Marc Bircham, and the joys of Italian arm waving. Dan looks forward to the Rovers Hungarian trip, out of Dublin, there's a full mailbag, a dispute over an article in the Sunday papers, and a St Pats Euro analysis as well as full league lookahead and a quiz with Porterhouse brews. Plus! Save the date, buy a hat, book a taxi, because we're giving you a day out! All of this is with Future Ticketing, Collar and Cuff and Porterhouse Brews. So stay on the road, follow the highway sign, it's all going down in a lost lane.

As we bask in the summer heatwave drinking Ice-T, Stephen Bradley's Shamrock Rovers bask in European glory after 'routinely' disposing of Shkupi Shkupi Dog Dog. We hear from the manager of the victorious team from Tallaght as well as welcoming another Tallaght native into our studio. Graham Gartland returns to the pod to cast his assessment of Bradley's performance, a look ahead to Saint Pats big game, the young talent at Rovers, Johnny's apparent development of ADHD, stock car racing in the 80s, and Paul Doolin's inside legs. On top of that Johnny gets new shorts from our very good friends at Collar and Cuff, there's an article that Dan may or may not have written, a Porterhouse Brew quiz prize, and let's not forget the good people at Future Ticketing for making all of this malarkey possible! Oh, and if you've spotted the Father Ted reference give yourself an extra star!

By all accounts this week's pod takes 'interesting' to a new level. This weeks mistakenly identified guest is John Martin, who didn't play as a number 10 for UCD in either 1999 or 2000, but did play in midfield and was assistant manager with Longford Town. John drops by LOI towers to talk about the business of sport, CEO training, the FAI's strategy plan, his experiences as a player and a coach, and the exploits of his football family. The dynamic duo also have time to discuss what was the best Irish goal in Europe, inflationary croissants, the Dalymount saga, and why we should play Scottish teams in every round! There's the usual Porterhouse Brew competition, the mailbag, look ahead to the weekend and as usual a detailed examination of how Galway United are going to win the cup. Thanks, as always, to Future Ticketing, Collar and Cuff, and Porterhouse Brew and by all accounts, thats it!

This week, Didi and Gogo are unaccompanied in studio as the pod takes a darker turn. Suitably dressed in all black, our accidental heroes ruminate on life, death, and European competitions. With voices from far flung lands, like John Russell from Sligo, Jamie Lennon and Jon Daly from Saint Pats and Gary O'Neill from Shamrock Rovers, our protagonists try to see the bright side of the week's adventures while fondling bread and lamenting the fiver coffee. There are lighter moments to this weeks tragi-comedy, like Pat Dolan's Celtic Tiger shirts, pint prices in 1988, not so ironic anagrams and extra Porterhouse Brews. "One day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die", but not before we thank our good friends at Future Ticketing, Malone Financial Services, and Collar and Cuff. Danger here.....

On the anniversary of his Real Madrid debut we talk in depth with Chris Ronaldo's best friend over the last thirteen years. Yes, ex Rovers defender Pajo Flynn, whose relationship with Ronaldo has blossomed since their first meeting on that Tallaght pitch over a decade ago bares his soul in a no holds barred interview that details his part in Ronaldo's rise, that famous Coca Cola bottle controversy, defending Del Piero free kicks, the similarity of arses in League of Ireland, coaching the under 14s, and, in a world exclusive, finally reveals his most hated adversaries. We look forward to the European games to come this week and back at a disappointing night for Shamrock Rovers as well as discussing Alan Mannus and the third leg of the tie. All thanks to Future Ticketing, Collar and Cuff and there's beers to be won from Porterhouse Brew.

European football is a Ciaran Kilduff time of year and he dropped into studio to reflect on magic memories with Johnny and Dan and talk about his plans to make some new ones in management. His old team-mate and rival Colin Healy is living that life right now and he dialled in from Cork ahead of Friday's big game in Turner's Cross to talk about the transition to the dugout and dismiss mind games from our in-house Galwegian. We also hear about Ciaran's brief but memorable spider heavy stint on Leeside where the blind quite literally ended up leading the blind. Beyond that, we hear about Shamrock Rovers' Euro exploits from Stephen Bradley and look ahead to a big Sligo Rovers night with the help of John Russell and Aidan Keena. And your mailbag brings us down an unusual path towards suspiciously cute animal videos and the eternal question of whether an elephant actually forgets. This is all brought to you by our good friends at Collar and Cuff, Future Ticketing and Porterhouse Brew.

As the giddy July evenings of European football take hold, Paddy Kavanagh joins us to speak of his vision for beauty, love and truth or maybe it was just Bohs. Either way, we went on an entertaining journey through his career, from character building Leinster Senior League days to the Belgrade bomb squad and a thriller in Turkey before he found his happy place scoring in front of the Dalymount Park chip van. Culinary issues dominate the mailbag as we find the one subject that prompts a 'no comment' from Johnny while we also hear from the evergreen Ronan Finn about his European goal and Riga expert Ruaidhri Higgins about Derry City's next test. All this and a trip to Collar & Cuff for a suit for a young Perry Mason, a question of four Porterhouse brews and thanks as always to our friends at Future Ticketing.

Is it just us or is the whole world looking for the next South Dublin coffee house? Well you won't find it here. We've got cheesy chips, curry chips, and Stephen Bradley, who wasn't bad at chips in his day. As Bradley's team gets ready for the ex British colony of Malta and their high temperatures, we narrowly avoid an international incident of the Kay Burley variety, when talking with Gianluca Lia of the Maltese sporting press. He tells us about the weird impact Irish refereeing is having on the upcoming Rovers v Hibernian tie. We also have a cameo from Tim Clancy on the transfer window while there's cats and dogs in the mailbag, cryogenically frozen actors, the entire first division team narratives, and not a falcon in sight. So, with thanks to Future Ticketing, Porterhouse Brew, Malone Financial Services and Collar and Cuff, this really is the stuff that dreams are made of.

This week's special guest is Trevor Croly. Over a decade and a half in coaching, he talks about his time as manager of Shamrock Rovers, what he learned, the Bohs bus-inspired jersey, their up-and-down season and a lot more besides. We also hear from John Caulfield ahead of Alex Murphy's move to Newcastle, much to Johnny's sadness. And Dan is off to Berlin – after an admission that the lads had a something-other-than-ten out of ten performance last week. All this and much more with thanks to Future Ticketing, Collar and Cuff, and Porterhouse Brew.

It's another remote-arama podcast with Johnny going nineteenth century on the Blaskets and Dan just back from his eastern European International duty. We have Stephen O'Donnell checking in along with Greg Bolger as we anticipate the big European nights for the LOI clubs in the coming weeks. It's all in all not quite as good as a Nathan Collins wonder goal but not quite as bad as a George Best hangover. Yes, it's somewhere in the middle but it's available now! Thanks to Future Ticketing, Porterhouse Brew and Collar and Cuff.

It's another roadshow of sorts this week with Johnny in Kinsale and Dan back from Yerevan and we return from our non Galway-Cork related mid-season break to speak about the planned LOI expansion into Kerry with Billy Dennehy speaking with Johnny about what's going on down in the Kingdom and where it might go. The lads discuss the potential, wonder how long it is before US tourists in Killarney are LOI groundhopping and ponder the irony of Saudi Arabia finally doing something for Galway. Derry slumps, John Russell's Sligo Rovers appointment and wedding suit reviews also feature in a show that is a tight fit by our standards

On Bob Dylan's 81st birthday we have a show with absolutely no reference to the poet laureate of Rock 'n Roll but do have the poet laureate of LOI, Brian Kerr, giving his views on the Liam Buckley dismissal. Whilst Dan dials in from Europe, Johnny finally get's a Long(ish) chat with Keith before a discussion on the SARI promotion of it's work and a chat with Europe bound, teenage sensation James Abankwah. As usual the mailbag is stuffed and the Porterhouse brews are flying out the door. And yes, you guessed it, Collar and Cuff and Future Ticketing are along for the ride as usual. Episode 15, my friends, is blowing in the wind!

Johnny's fantasy of being in a forensic cop show came a step closer to being realised as the Operation Brookweed news broke just before going into studio. Dan and Johnny discuss the match fixing story as well as religious bookstores and relics before welcoming noted author, actor, topless model and entrepreneur Brian Gartland in to discuss his new book and his story so far. There's Ray Charles, Hotel Shenanigans in both Portugal and Abbey Street, that rivalry with Cork, Love Hate and away games with Ireland. You can also win a signed copy of Brian's book to read along with your Porterhouse brews, Johnny's Collar and Cuff suit is still in the news and Roy Keane even gets in on the action. All thanks to Future Ticketing, Porterhouse Brew, Malone Financial Services and Collar and Cuff

This week we welcome first-time caller, long-time listener, Padraig Amond, who made the trip from Carlow to Exeter and he tells us about life in league one with The Grecians, getting papped at a Florida airport and how he might not be playing at Galway United next season. Johnny talks to Stephen Bradley about quadruple substitutions in an effort to manoeuvre around a large bleached mastodon that may have been in the room at the time before chatting to Liam Buckley about how good or otherwise the pitch was. Music this week comes from Dr Alban, Haddaway, Picotto and the Shels supporters. There's a birth name reveal and how a Duncan became a Bob, Johnny gets his suit stretched out a bit, and the boys lose touch with the kids. As usual we have to thank Future Ticketing, Collar and Cuff and The Porterhouse for allowing us to create more tangents than a Raymond Chandler novel. I'll stop talking now and let the rest of it float in the air.

There's only one talking point to discuss this week. It's the big news that stopped us in our tracks. Did Johnny really go for a curry with Alan Patchell instead of a day at the races with Dan? Oh, there's also the whole Stephen Bradley to Lincoln thing, which the lads discuss in depth at the top of the show. We get the thoughts of Rotherham hero and exam student Georgie Kelly, the footballer who doesn't want to be known as a footballer and a friend of many pods but the only player to give an on-air review of this one. Johnny catches up with Countdown's Dinny Corcoran about his 100 goals and the ales that cost him a few more.

We've got a doozy of a show for you this week as we welcome back Mark Rossiter to the show and this time he brings Drogheda's best bearded northsider with him. Yes, in a wide ranging chat, Gary Deegan helps Johnny exorcise the ghosts of cup finals missed, reflects on how a brush with death changed his perspective on life and opens up on the fake and fickle nature of the ruthless football industry over the water. He also explains why nutsacks don't mix well with carpenters' tools and the practical reason he used to bring his dog to training. There's the demise of the mystery voice because you said so, designated flare operators, and a whole lot of other stuff in an extra long episode brought to you by Future Ticketing, Collar & Cuff, Porterhouse Brewery and Malone Financial Services. You wanted it easy, and it couldn't be any easier.

The gloves are off this week and Nancy Reagan's continuing war on drugs means that Bradley, Higgins, and O'Donnell are retained for their thoughts on what happened over the weekend. As we stumble into the middle age of this season's pod and lose touch with the kids Dan speaks to English born, Drogheda based, Scottish U-21 international Sam Long & Johnny catches up with Kildare raised, Oxford based and likely future Ireland international Luke McNally. And if that's not confusing enough we also have a message from the future (and not talking Future Ticketing) about the demise of Ian Morris at Waterford. Roads!, where we're going we don't need roads. It might not be 1985 Nancy but Roy Keane wasn't always a pundit kids. Episode 10 with our bare hands!

Just before Jesus rising time we've got a Shelbourne Special for you. It's a biblical tale of hateful revenge turning into brotherly love for Mark Coyle and Aodh Dervin - two new disciples of Damien Duff's gospel at Tolka. They talk about getting the call from the Messiah and what it means to go full time as well as spreading the good news via on field chats. There's loaves and chicken, excited mothers, mysterious text messages, a postman, scientist, the big bag of Mail, the voice of God and monk brewed Porterhouse. Collar and Cuff are tasked with a suit for Johnny's wedding at Canaan and if that's not enough bible for you there's always the church of LOI with two rounds of games this weekend! All thanks to Future Ticketing.

In this week's carbon neutral pod we travel forward in time to chat to Tom Grivosti of St. Pats and virtually welcome Derry and Ireland Under 21 Assistant Manager Alan Reynolds back to the pod to talk about handshakes, housewreckers, headcases and a small bit of football. There's the continuing saga of the mystery voice, the new Johnny Ward voice of advertising, the increasingly popular mailbag, the usual legal wranglings of O'Donnell, Clancy and Higgins, and a milk run gone wrong. All of this over a few laughs and a coffees in our Oliver Ireland studio and of course thanks to our usual sponsors, Future Ticketing, Porterhouse Brewing and Lou Feringo's favourite tailors, Collar & Cuff!