On this bumper St Patrick's Day edition of the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Raf Diallo is joined by former Republic of Ireland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Stephen Kelly, ex-LOI-winning defender Graham Gartland, Shelbourne midfielder Rachel Graham and Bulgarian football journalist Teodor Borisov.
TIMESTAMPS
01:20 Kelly, who will be on co-commentary duty for RTÉ's live TV coverage of Ireland's Nations League play-off first leg against Bulgaria on Thursday, runs the rule over the Boys in Green squad - before Monday's late alterations - and shares memories of playing against the Bulgarians in 2009 and what it was like being a team-mate of the legendary Dimitar Berbatov at Fulham.
25:30 Borisov shares an insight into what Ireland can expect from Bulgaria over the two-legged tie and details the issues that led to manager Ilian Iliev tendering his resignation recently but ultimately staying in charge for these games.
55:30 With League of Ireland players ultimately missing out on Heimir Hallgrimsson's final squad for this window, Gartland gives his take on that as well as the weekend's SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division action and the impasse between clubs and the FAI over what LOI teams deemed a "poorly conceived" coaching plan for young players.
1:34.20 On a weekend which saw Ruesha Littlejohn make a goalscoring debut for Shamrock Rovers and her own Shelbourne side bounce back in style, Graham discusses Saturday's Women's Premier Division games.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
