Episode 95 - 2025 A Year In Football

I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick and Philip Flanagan to look at our bottom five lows and top five highs of Irish international football in 2025. Can you guess what we went for? What were your high and lows of the year?

Episode 93 - Mathematically Uncertain

I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick and Philip Flanagan of The Bottomless Pit of Football to discuss the Republic of Ireland Mens National Team's 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Armenia - did we deserve anything from the defensive performance, or did spending 90 minutes not trying to create a goalscoring opportunity mean Hallgrímsson's side came away from Lisbon with exactly what they deserved? Armenia came to Dublin looking to finally leave Aviva Stadium with three points, but the team seem to have lucked into a new tactic at home - getting an opposition player sent off!

The Mens Under-17 side kicked off their qualification campaign for the 2026 UEFA Under-17 Championship in Austria, facing the hosts, the Faroe Islands, and Kosovo, and came away with a 100% record without conceding a goal - what did we think of the performance of the team under interim coach Paul Osam and can this side emulate the 2025 squad and qualify for the 2026 Under-17 World Cup?

Finally, Carla Ward has named her squad for the Womens' National Team Nations League promotion play off against Belgium. Without their first choice goalkeeper, and following another retirement, can the team win promotion to League A next year, and what bearing does the result of the tie have on qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup?

Episode 87 - Nations League and end of season friendlies

I'm joined again by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick to discuss the final two games of the Republic of Ireland Women's Team's Nations League campaign - with six points on offer from the games against Turkiye and Slovenia, can Carla Ward's team earn promotion to League A, or will we face the play offs in October?

The final two friendlies for the mens team represent the last chance for experimentation by Heimir Hallgrímsson before the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers start in September. With four new faces in the squad, how do we think the team will line out against Senegal and Luxembourg, and what challenges will the two sides pose for the Boys in Green?

Finally, with the group stage draw completed for the Under 17 World Cup being held in November, we take a look at the sides Colin O'Brien's team will face in Qatar and evaluate our chances of progressing into the knock out stages 

Note - this episode was recorded before the updated mens squad was announced, so contains some discussion on where we expected Sammie Szmodics to play in the two friendlies

Episode 86 - Bulgaria, Greece, and the World Cup

I'm joined again by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick and Philip Flanagan of The Bottomless Pit of Football to review the Republic of Ireland senior men's team's play off against Bulgaria, we've picked up one bad habit under the new manager, but also seem to know how to recover from it. 

With the women's team needing to bounce back from two underwhelming performances, and one particularly bad result, in their opening games of the Nations League, and facing a Greek side looking to get their first points on the board for their campaign, how do we think it'll go over the two games for Carla Ward's side?

Finally, the U19 and U17 qualifying campaigns reached their climaxes, with a disappointing result for the U19s in Germany, but the U17s will play in their first World Cup in Qatar this November. What did we think of the performances from both sides, and who do we think is going to worth looking our for at the end of the year? 

(note this was recorded before the women's team's first game against Greece)