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PODCAST

LOI Central

@LOICentralPod is a podcast with opinion, analysis and interviews on all the latest happenings in the League of Ireland, hosted by Johnny Ward & Dan McDonnell

sports soccer

All Episodes

81:16

Episode 259: S09E11 - Born Again Bohs, Duff/Caulfield...

LOI Central ·

2025/04/22

We 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 eventually manage to do that after hearing a little bit of John Caulfield and Damien Duff and more about the Galway United old lads Whatsapp group

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65:23

Episode 258: S09E10 - Top Drogs, The Relegation Slog...

LOI Central ·

2025/04/15

There’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 across the sea to discuss Dan’s analysis of Packie Bonner. Stephen Bradley hails Jack Byrne’s apparent rebirth before the lads discuss the

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84:00

Episode 257: S09E09 with Paul Doolin and James Keddy

LOI Central ·

2025/04/08

Paul 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 his time, and if he was always angry or just misunderstood while James talks about his future managerial ambitions as he reflects on his time at

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71:39

Episode 256: S09E08 The One With The Double Stitched...

LOI Central ·

2025/04/01

The 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 with John Russell, some commentary gold, WW2 and WWW, Cork City cogging, Coffee Angels and Devils, and isn’t Kevin Doherty terribly nice? This

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49:53

Episode 255: S09E07 - The One With The Late Night...

LOI Central ·

2025/03/26

The 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-commentator watching his beloved Bohs and Galway. There's also a bit of chalice work, parental compassion, the hooligan collection box, the AI man

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70:33

Episode 254: S09E06: The Shifting Sands of Irish...

LOI Central ·

2025/03/19

With 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 Corbett is a topical guest in that context, with the long serving Galway United director – who is stepping back from his front line role –

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75:35

Episode 253: S09 E05 - The Tightest League in the...

LOI Central ·

2025/03/11

There’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 galloping through a crowded mailbag that includes athletics and attendance trivia and questions around why Shamrock Rovers turned bodies away when

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73:31

Episode 252: S09E04 Reds, Refs, Rovers & Richmond...

LOI Central ·

2025/03/04

After 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 the LOITV debacle? There's all that and more in hastily assembled fun brought to you in association with Future Ticketing, Sport Cosanta, Collar

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79:40

Episode 251: S09E03 Conspiracy Theories, Climate...

LOI Central ·

2025/02/25

We’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 defences have been exposed to pressure from teams attacking on two fronts. The lads also hail Galway for subjecting Stephen Kenny’s Saints to a

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89:56

Episode 250: S09E02 Norway, Aviva and Webster & Doyle

LOI Central ·

2025/02/17

To 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 of a heaving mailbag as we discuss the Bohs-Rovers experiment, young Michael in Molde, the not so bright Friday night lights in Tolka, the pros

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66:41

Episode 249: S09E01: 2025 Season Preview @ Rascals...

LOI Central ·

2025/02/11

WE 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 lessons before looking forward to the campaign ahead with the benefit of his informed knowledge. There’s title predictions, transfer revelations (the

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73:51

Episode 248: S08XMAS with "The Rascals Loft Tapes"

LOI Central ·

2024/12/16

It'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 months. There's Vienna tales and images of idyllic December evenings as the lads talk Rovers in Europe, manager speculation, transfer rumours,

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66:45

Episode 247: S08E40 - The Underdrogs 2 The Undertones 0

LOI Central ·

2024/11/12

We 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 Doherty and Ruaidhri Higgins audio too. Beyond that we’ve a packed mailbag discussing cup final crowds, transfer speculation and budget business as

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76:42

Episode 246: S08E39 Live from Rascals - The...

LOI Central ·

2024/11/06

It'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 answered the SOS to join live show staple Keith Ward on stage to tell us about Mourinho messages, Duff magic and much more with the help of some

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74:32

Episode 245: S08E38 It's the Final Countdown....

LOI Central ·

2024/10/31

Here 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 steamroll Waterford? Where are Derry’s heads at? Is this as good as it gets? Paddy Kavanagh drops by to offer his take and we also get

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84:05

Episode 244: S08E37 The PFA Ireland Team of the Year...

LOI Central ·

2024/10/22

It’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 we dust down the phone line to dial up some other team members. Around all of that we jibber jabber about the greatest run in of all time, fights

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70:19

Episode 243: S08E36 Sliding Doors, Friday Night Fever...

LOI Central ·

2024/10/16

Ahead 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’s excitement and Breslin at 1.5x. Johnny briefly caught up with Alan Reynolds before an extended reunion with Stephen Kenny ahead of the do or

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66:46

Episode 242: S08E35 with Barry Murphy and David McMillan

LOI Central ·

2024/10/06

After 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? Can Drogheda win the cup? Where’s Johnny? We do have the answer to one of those questions – our co-host is on a working trip to Kerry but he

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83:11

Episode 241: S08E34 Tolka Thriller & FAI Cup Preview

LOI Central ·

2024/10/02

We 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's before we get to the mailbag which is full of Shels strife and Saints standards. With all of this excitement, you could be forgiven for

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90:40

Episode 240: S08E33 A full 90 minutes with Dermot...

LOI Central ·

2024/09/25

Dermot 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 summarise them under one heading so, just like a player in his dressing room or a student in his classroom you just need to strap in and see where

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