Entertainment

Second Captains breathes new life into sporting chat show

Published

9 years ago

September 24, 2013

TV Watch with Dave O’Connell

To be brutally honest, I didn’t expect to like Second Captains, RTE2’s new hybrid of sports, comedy and laddish humour – mainly because I appear to be one of about three people in the country who couldn’t abide the Off the Ball radio version on Newstalk.

To me, it was just a group of smug Dubs in love with their own voices – and I know that one of them is from Tuam – but more to the point, the only sporting opinions that I really want to hear are those of actual sports people.

I didn’t shed any tears when the Off the Ball team thought they’d grown so big they could threaten Denis O’Brien with a walkout if they didn’t get their way on scheduling, only to find that walking was indeed their only option.

And I wasn’t surprised that other radio stations didn’t get killed in the rush to sign them – not least because Denis O’Brien owns most of those other outlets and RTE keeps telling us it’s broke.

So the Off The Ball boys had to make do with an Indo column – which I’ve never read – and a webcast for the Irish Times, which I’ve never seen … until they came up with Second Captains, and RTE commissioned a four-part television series.

Two weeks into this, I don’t just like it – I love it, because this is fresh and funny and very different, in that it’s about sport but it’s not just for anoraks. And it turns out the guys aren’t as smug as radio made them out to be after all.

Yes, there are those who point to Skinner and Baddiel doing something similar – blokes shooting the breeze on a couch, cracking jokes, pulling out embarrassing archive material and so on – but RTE’s version also captures the enthusiasm and sheer craic of a show hosted by a few people with a genuine passion for what they do.

The relaxed style also lends itself to more revealing interviews that you’d get with both parties stuck on either side of a big desk; Ronan O’Gara actually looked like he might be a bit of craic as opposed to the stone-faced professional who specialises in monotone interviews after a big match.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.

Related Topics:connacht sentinel tv watch second captains

Up Next

The highs and lows of love central theme of Ultan’s second album

Don't Miss

Top class line-up as Galway Comedy Festival promises to roll out best-ever barrel of laughs

CITY TRIBUNE

Artists encouraged to enjoy great outdoors at weekend of plein-air painting in Kinvara

Published

5 days ago

March 17, 2023

Our Reporter

Outdoor urban artist Róisín Curé will be among the tutors for the June Bank Holiday weekend. Here she has captured a Kinvara scene.

A weekend of plein-air painting will take place in Kinvara in early June. The not-for-profit community arts event is being organised by members of the Kinvara Area Visual Artists (KAVA) group and will be led by experienced artists and teachers

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, participants will gather to explore the beauty and culture of the village and surrounding areas, including Thoor Ballylee and the Burren.

The tutors are Steve Browning, Geraldine Walsh, Róisín Curé and Mavis Gormally, who will provide seven full-day workshops in three different locations.

These are suitable for artists who work in oil, acrylic or watercolour. There will also be an exhibition space where participants can show work completed over the weekend. People can also engage in informal paint-outs and enjoy social activities and local attractions.

Steve Browning’s workshops in oils and acrylics will take place in Kinvara Village and the Burren. Steve, who is originally from the UK, initially worked as an art director in London and Dublin. He began painting at weekends, before becoming a fulltime artist. His work has been shown in London, at the Royal Hibernian Academy, and the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts in Belfast. It’s in collections in the UK, USA and Ireland. He has won prizes at the Dublin Plein Air Festival and Wexford’s Art in the Open Festival and has also been a finalist in the prestigious Plein Air Magazine of America’s annual art competition for three years in a row, winning the best acrylic painting award in 2022.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

CITY TRIBUNE

Classical treat on menu at Station House Theatre

Published

5 days ago

March 17, 2023

Our Reporter

The trio performing in Ann’s Church on Dublin's Dawson Street on Tuesday night as part of their national Music Network tour.

Grammy-nominated Ukrainian-British violist Maxim Rysanov, multi-award-winning Russian violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and rising cello star Dóra Kokas from Hungary will be in concert in Clifden’s Station House Theatre next Tuesday, March 21, at 8pm.

Their show is part of a national tour of Ireland, presented by Music Network.

They will perform Mozart’s only string trio, Beethoven’s Trio in G major and a work by Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova which aims to highlight the unity of sound that a string trio can create. A new commission, written by award-winning Irish composer Ed Bennett for Music Network, will complete the programme.

Maxim Rysanov has a worldwide reputation as a violist and conductor, often combining both roles in concerts. He has featured on stage with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Mariinsky in St Petersburg, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Moscow Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.

CITY TRIBUNE

Celebrating St Patrick with music and song at Druid

Published

5 days ago

March 17, 2023

Judy Murphy

Soprano Helen Hancock, who lives in Oranmore, will lead the night of music and song.

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Oranmore-based soprano Helen Hancock will lead a night of music and song by composers including Schubert, Schumann, and Strauss this Saturday, March 18, for St Patrick’s Weekend.

The concert, entitled The Lark in the Clear Air will also feature a host of Irish tunes. It takes place in Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre on Saturday, starting at 8pm when Helen will be accompanied by Italian pianist Annalisa Monticelli and American clarinettist, Berginald Rash

The programme will feature Schubert’s Shepherd on a Rock and Arnold Cooke’s Songs of Innocence, both written for soprano, clarinet, and piano.

Shepherd on a Rock was composed in 1828, during the last months of Schubert’s life, and explores themes of longing, the arrival of spring, and journeying to the beloved. Cooke’s Songs of Innocence was inspired by the poetry of 19th century English poet and artist, William Blake.

Themes of nature and the cycle of life will be further explored in Strauss’s and Clara Schumann’s songs for soprano and piano, including Die Stille Lotosblume and Zueignung.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.