What’s the Story? Podcast

Paul Devaney is a Longford man who has been leading a challenge to scale the world's highest heights. The Seven Summits Challenge involves reaching the top of the highest mountain on every continent. To date, Paul has reached 6 of the 7 summits with only the biggest prize eluding him, Everest. Paul tells us his story including what happens when you're on the other side of the world and there's a family tragedy, his dedication to completing the 7 summits, and what happened on his previous two attempts to climb Everest. Check out www.irishsevensummits.com to learn more about Paul's story and what happens next.

This week we're joined by boxing legend Michael Conlan, who is currently in camp training for another headline bout a Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick's Day. A double Olympian and double Inter-Continental champion, Conlan is widely regarded as one of Ireland's greatest ever boxers. Mick chats to the lads about some of his career highlights, friendships - including how Paddy Barnes helped save Christmas, his passion for mental health advocacy and helping people, and what comes next. It was a pleasure for us to have Mick on the podcast, especially for a milestone episode like 200. We've loved the 5 years we've spent making this podcast, and we hope to continue as long as you keep listening. Thanks for listening and supporting two lads from Ballybrack who like to hear stories and laugh at each other's mistakes.

General Election 2020 is in the books but the result has left more questions than answers. To help us with those questions we asked the wonderful Aoife Moore to join us and put a bit of manners on our (lack of) political knowledge. Much like Irish politics, chaos takes over and the result is a lot of giggles and Mero getting a new nickname.

The42.ie journalist and writer Paul Dollery joins us on the podcast this week. Paul gives his take on the 2020 League of Ireland season, the state of Irish MMA and we take a little look at the Republic of Ireland national team's future.

The brilliant and hilarious PJ Gallagher returns to WTSpod this week. You can get more of PJ on the Dubland podcast alongside Suzanne Kane and every weekday morning on Classic Hits Radio with Jim McCabe. This episode of WTSpod was brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

Jack Byrne is a professional Irish footballer currently playing with Shamrock Rovers and the Republic of Ireland national team. At the age of 15 Byrne signed with Manchester City and moved to England to pursue the dream of most teenage boys. Jack tells us about his time in England and the decisions that led him back to Ireland and winning his first international cap. This episode of WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

Our Man in Stockholm, the great Philip O'Connor joins us on the podcast this week as we give a little nod to the great Gay Byrne and acknowledge the first FAI Cup win for Shamrock Rovers since before Danny was born. Phil shares some advice Gay once gave him, which he didn't listen to, and we get into the nitty gritty of journalism and why you need to know where you get your news from. Check out some of the brilliant work Phil is producing over at Our Man in Stockholm.

The great and powerful Ewan MacKenna makes his return to WTSpod and it's a joy as always. In a chat that includes Irish rugby, drugs in sport, Conor McGregor, and words of wisdom from the late great George Carlin - Ewan never disappoints.

After a little break, the lads return from travels and tribulations to the warm embrace of WTSpod's controversial comrade, Gary Mackle. Over the years, there has been a swell in the demand for Gary to be a permanent fixture of the WTS line-up, and there has been an almost equal demand for Gary to be shot into the centre of the sun and never heard from again... we don't have the technology to do that, but we do have the technology to have him on the podcast regularly so we'll go with that.

This week's episode of WTSpod is a great lesson in why pre recording a podcast five days before it's due to go out can be a really bad idea... Through the magic of Skype, Under the Sticks podcast host and Pro 14 Communications gaffer Adam Redmond joined us to talk rugby, wrestling, the world and craic. Of course, we all presumed Ireland would dispose of this year's World Cup hosts and continue their march towards the quarter final... Japan had other ideas and made us all look like ticks. So... enjoy us showing we know nothing about rugby and come back next week when we'll cover a topic that requires no predictions at all.

Dr Jennifer Cassidy is a lecturer at Oxford University and specialises in the world of politics. Originally from Dublin, Jennifer tells us how she got to Oxford as we try to understand the chaos of the modern political landscape. From life as diplomatic attache in the UN, to appearing on BBC and fearing she would become a meme, Jennifer covers a lot of ground as we try to understand how the fate of the western world is being determined by Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

This week we're joined by the host of Magic Minds podcast Matt Burke. When he's not podcasting, Matt works with people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries and he tells us about some of the brilliant work being done in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin.

This week we're joined by Ger Redmond, an endurance athlete with an incredible story. On the brink of fulfilling every boyhood dream of becoming a professional footballer, after signing a contract with Dunfermline in Scotland, Ger recieved news that forced him to leave that dream behind and return home. The next 20 years of his life are filled with trials and tribulations that inspire and show that anybody can change and save a life. While you're here, why not go back and listen to one of our early episodes from the archives? WTS Chapter 189 live in Las Vegas was recorded 4 years ago after UFC 189. Check it out here.

He's back, and it's as beautiful as ever. Fresh from a sun holiday and with plenty to get off his chest, Gary Mackle, our special correspondent, returns due to popular demand. Despite being rudely interrupted by his parenting responsibilities, Gary gave us his thoughts and opinions on a range of subjects. Sport, music, knife crime, obscenities, gambling, and tapas are just some of the areas we ramble into this week. It's weird. It's wonderful. It's WTSpod with Gary Mackle.

Jumpers for Goalposts was back in the Brack this week, so we packed up our gear and went along to chat with some of the people involved. Jumpers For Goalposts (J4G) is a new volunteer-run movement that encourages men of different ages, races, backgrounds, and abilities to come together for an old-fashioned game of football using ‘jumpers for goalposts’. The idea is the brainchild of Ballybrack mental health activist Keith Kelly. It followed the success of a poem and video he created for World Mental Health Week back in 2018. To learn more about #J4G, visit www.jumpersforgoalposts.ie

Chef Adrian returns to WTSpod and Fitzpatrick Castle to chat all things food, cooking and deliciousness. We hear about his new book "Create Beautiful Food at Home" which is available online and in all good bookshops now. and Adrian challenges Danny to make his simple Carbonara... We apologise to Adrian and you this week, Danny pulled an absolute clanger and somehow forgot the recorder. Still, thanks to the magic of technology we managed to salvage something, but the audio is a little thin - feel free to tweet Danny your favourite disappointed or disapproving gif. WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

This week we welcomed Clelia Murphy back to Fitzpatrick Castle for her second outing on WTSpod, however this time she brought back up! Joining Clelia on the podcast this week is Munster and Ireland hero, Peter Stringer. Clelia and Peter were both contestants on the hugely popular series Dancing With the Stars and joined us to talk dancing nerves, struggles, Tupperware and heels.Mero gets embarrassed about his arms and Danny hunts for some tabloid dirt from behind the curtain on this season of DWTS. WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

Irivin Muchnick is an independent journalist and author who specialises in sports muckraking. He has written for Sports Illustrated, People, The Washington Monthly, and the Sunday magazines of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among many other major publications. Irv originally joined us back on episode 83 of WTSpod and we caught up with him to hear the latest in the George Gibney saga and find out why 2019 might be the year of reckoning for the former Olympic swimming coach and sex criminal. We also talk about the Chris Benoit murder suicide - one of the darkest moments in the history of professional wrestling. If you want to know more about Irvin's work visit www.concussioninc.net

We're back! After an extended break to allow Danny find himself, WTSpod is back in your life and bringing you an endless stream of tangents, waffles and Mero struggling to say big words. This week we welcome two of our favourite people to Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, Paul Howard and Gary Mackle. Paul is one of Gary's biggest fans, so we agreed to set up a meeting between two of the greatest minds to ever come out of Ballybrack. Give it a listen, and don't forget to visit www.fitzpatrickcastle.com

Joshua Levine is a writer, broadcaster and historian. He joined us to discuss the topics of some of his incredible books, including: 'Operation Fortitude' and the role of espionage in World War 2 and 'Beauty and Atrocity' which is about the struggle for peace on the island of Ireland. His book and knowledge of Dunkirk landed him the position of official historian for the Oscar winning Christopher Nolan epic, Dunkirk. As always, there's tangents and side tracks including a discussion about Corn Flakes and how Josh put together a documentary about the world's most expensive stamp... If you'd like to see more of Josh's work, and we highly recommend you do, you can visit here and you can follow his twitter exploits here.

This week the lads have suffered a fatal tech blow as their original podcast recording with Dr Shane Bergin falls foul of tech gremlins. So, not wanting to leave it too long since the last instalment of WTSpod, the lads scrambled of a Saturday to talk about the FAI and how Mero doesn't watch Game of Thrones.

This week we're joined by the host of Buckshot podcast and comedian, Tom O'Mahony.

The crisp world cup is over and we have a champion. The lads react to two weeks of crunching craic and the news that Tayto Cheese and Onion are indeed Ireland's favourite crisp. The lads also laugh at John Delaney and Mero disputes Danny's ability to judge travel times. Support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/WTSpod

Following a suspension from WTSpod for unacceptable behaviour, the original heel of Ballybrack returns. Gary Mackle is an agony aunt and relationship expert who resides in county Wicklow. The lads caught up with the Love Doctor to tackle some silly, sublime, and serious topics. This week the lads talk #CrispWorldCup, Gary's wedding planning business, Michael Jackson, Mero tries to catch Danny out for removing Morrissey as the podcast's intro, and Gary gives his culinary advice to the masses.

This week, Sexologist Emily Power Smith returns to WTSpod to help the lads learn more about their favourite topic (outside of wrestling and crisps). The conversations were ripe and varied on this edition of the podcast, from sex education to sexual health, masturbation classes in New York, never underestimating the importance of lube, and we get a professional opinion regarding Mero's fear of commitment while Danny tries not to embarrass himself laughing at the word anal. You can learn more about Emily and her work by visiting her website at www.empowersme.com

This week the lads dream about what they could do with €175m, Danny swears too much while having memory problems, Mero has a "stroke" and we're launching a definitive tournament to decide what crisp is the greatest crisp in the world.

Seán Sheehan joins the lads this week as they race through some deep MMA talk and take a bump in the world of pro wrestling. Seán is one of Ireland's leading MMA podcaster hosts and writers. You can check out more of his great work through SevereMMA and Sherdog.

This week the lads are joined by League of Ireland legend and RTÉ pundit Alan Cawley. Mero is like a kid at Christmas as we are just a few short sleeps away from a brand new SSE Airtricity League season. So, with that in mind we brought Al back to look ahead and see what we can expect from the #GreatestLeagueInTheWorld. *We're sorry if the audio sounds a bit off on this week's podcast, we had some serious gremlins in the editing process... and no, the gremlin wasn't Danny trying to replace all mentions of football with rugby.

On this week's podcast Danny continues his run as WTSpod's resident heel, Mero is not happy about being fouled out of basketball matches and the lads are not happy about nasal hair. There's talk of Brexit, the Royal Rumble, the Six Nations and everyone is a friend of the show.

Heather Hardy is a professional boxer and MMA fighter from Brooklyn, New York. She is one of the biggest names in women's boxing and boasts a 22-0 record with a world title or two thrown in for good measure. The lads caught up with The Heat to discuss her career, boxing, unifying the women's featherweight championships, fighting in the Bellator cage again (and maybe in Ireland), and the possibility of facing off against Katie Taylor.

This week the lads caught up with friend of the show, Stephanie Roche. It's been three years since Steph first appeared on WTSpod and a lot has changed for the Irish striker. Following a year of highs and lows, Steph recently made the move to Italy where she is applying her trade with CF Florentia in Florence. Steph tells us how the move to Florentia came to be, the frustration of being injured, covering the 2018 World Cup with RTÉ, the heartbreak of Club 92 in Dublin closing its doors, and loads more.

Following a festive fiesta the lads have returned to podcasting with a little warm-up ahead of 2019's real launch. There was some 'ring rust' as the lads try to adjust to normality and the dread of holiday season being well and truly over.

Our guests this week really need no introduction, which is why the lads made absolutely no effort with the this week's intro. Phil O'Connor made his WTS debut earlier this year and warmed the hearts and minds of the lads and their listeners. You can get your fill of Phil by checking out 'Our Man in Stolkholm' on Patreon. Petesy Carroll is Europe's best (and most handsome) MMA journalist. He has done wonders to improve Blanchardstown's reputation in light of it being part of Leo Varadkar's constituency. You can hear more of north Dublin's sexiest man (2015) by checking out Eurobash Podcast. Mero attempted to make this show a year in review but that went out the window very early and was exchanged for general waffle, craic and what may turn out to be the first movements towards an official Ken Early fan club.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if the lads didn't invite their great friend Paul Howard to the fabulous and famous Fitzpatrick Castle, to record their annual festive podcast. It's been another great year Paul, Ross O'Carroll Kelly continues to have a place in Irish hearts, and Copper Face Jacks the musical was one of the most popular stage shows of the year - so popular it will return in 2019 for its second outing. This episode of WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

Off the New York's Bronx coastline is an island that is home to the remains of over 1 million people.There are no gravestones, no memorial services and you cannot attend funerals there. Each grave contains 150 people, pine box caskets are stacked three-high and two-deep as they fill the giant holes with little room to spare. Hart Island is the world's largest publicly funded cemetery, and for years it has been shrouded in secrecy and associated with the poor, criminals, insane, and diseased. But is the more Hart Island and is it as dark and sinister as some press reports have portrayed it? Since 1994, The Hart Island Project has independently assisted families in obtaining copies of public burial records. The group also helps people track down loved ones and negotiate visits. The Hart Island Project was founded by New York artist Melinda Hunt in an effort to aid the loved ones of the dead buried on Hart Island.

Alan Gernon is a comedian and author. His first book, "Retired: What happens to footballers when the game is up?", was released to rave reviews in 2016. Two and half years later Alan is back, and this time he's had a little look into the transfer market. His book, "The Transfer Market: The inside stories" will be available from December 1st, you can pre-order it ahead of the Christmas rush to be guaranteed your copy.

This week the lads take questions from Instagram and Mero is currently on a world tour of podcasts which hasn't made Danny jealous at all.

Ewan MacKenna is an award winning Irish journalist based in Brazil. We spoke to Ewan about Brazil's president elect, Jair Bolsonaro, and how he came to power. Bolsonaro has hit headlines internationally for his controversial policies and comments about members of the black community, immigrants, Brazil's LGBTQ population, political opponents and climate change. We also talk about the Irish presidential campaign, drugs in sport and loads more.

Mero returns from two weeks of working on his all over tan and resumes his role as fan favourite. Danny, resenting Mero's rising popularity, turns the heat up on his heel run and continues to be The Macho Man Randy Savage to Mero's Hulk Hogan. The lads finally catch up on Khabib v McGregor, Danny didn't bother watching the build up and gets it wrong, before taking a look at what next for the current and former UFC lightweight champions. There's a brief stint on the Presedential election which annoys Danny and Mero doesn't want to talk about football.

Christy Moore is one of the greatest recording artists Ireland has ever produced. A career spanning six decades, songs as famous as Ireland itself, and a following that is unrivalled, it was an honour to welcome Christy to Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel for a chat and some tunes. Enjoy. WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

WTS' official correspondent, Gary Mackle, returns to the show for the first time since helping our listeners with their love lives back in February. Gary gives us his home decorating tips, thoughts on Trump, Roy Keane and Gardai in balaclavas.

BACK TO THE BRACK! The 600 has returned to celebrate the launch of Ian Versey's "Welcome to Ballybrack". 10 minutes, 600 seconds (give or take) of Mero & Danny talking, waffling, slagging and having the craic - sure what else do you need?

Philp O'Connor is an irish journalist based in the Swedish capital of Stolkholm. Having spent 20 years in Sweden, Phil's work has brought him around the world to cover everything from World Cups to Conor McGregor, politics and more. You can keep up with Our Man in Stockholm here.

Vivian Rath is an activist and advocate from county Wexford, Ireland. He is currently undertaking PhD research at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. Viv has campaigned for the disabled community for many years, and has opinion pieces and articles published across several media outlets including The Irish Times and thejournal.ie.

This week we welcome back an old friend in the shape and form of MMAfighting.com's Petesy Carroll. We talked a lot about why Khabib v Connor is so important to The UFC and MMA - We wonder if Petesy will ever get to write *THAT* book and is the future looking a little bit dim for MMA?

With Danny still trying to make his new house a home, and scheduling conflicts that make booking a guest harder than climbing Everest - the lads got cosy on Skype to record an episode that basically turned The 600 into The 6000. (We know, we havent recorded an episode of The 600 in a while, but it'll be back - promise.) This week we talk Khabib v McGregor, Ballybrack the music video, Transfer deadline day is a pile of sh*te and loads more besides.

This week the lads catch up after cancelling last week's recording. Danny said goodbye to an old friend, moved house and is an emotional mess. Mero hates Tommy Robinson and sees through Danny's attempt to wind him up over the national anthem. *Audio this week isn't as good as we'd like, we're trying new recording software and should have the hang of it soon.

Our guest this week is the brilliant Amy O'Connor. One of Ireland's favourite journalists, Amy's writing has covered everything from Volleyball and The MLS to Ireland's political elite and their love (or lack of) for Beyonce, bags of cans, and Love Actually. WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.

This week we are joined by a man with arms almost as big as his big bag of cans, Don Marnell. Don joined us to talk about his time with Ireland's OTT Wrestling, and how he came to be the voice of all the action inside Ireland's leading wrestling promotion. Check out OTT on Demand to see some of Europe's and the World's top wrestling. WTSpod is brought to you by Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, go to www.fitzpatrickcastle.com for more.