Colin Sheridan: A decade of game-changing Second Captains

Second Captains have managed what few, perhaps even themselves, thought possible. A chart-topping podcast with international clout, almost daily output, and a bevy of quality contributors

TEN YEARS: Second Captain's are now ten years old. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland

It’s almost embarrassing to admit, but, 10 years ago last week, when Newstalk’s flagship sport show Off the Ball aired in its usual time slot of 7pm without its first-line presenting team of Eoin McDevitt, Ciarán Murphy, and Ken Early, it represented an unlikely “I remember exactly where I was when it happened” moment.

The details of where I actually was are too mundane to recount, but it was an event to rival any unexpected band breakup of my teens, Roy Keane departures of my 20s, or presidential assassinations of my lifetime. This may sound like hyperbole, especially as I was a grown man in my early 30s, and because of this, you’d expect pop culture moments should somehow matter less? But, that’s the thing, the Off the Ball split mattered so much, I think, because I was of a certain age, and Early, McDevitt, and Murphy were too.