Stephen Folan, John Russell & Dean Zambra

Final Whistle League of Ireland

The west's certainly awake on this week's episode with two Galway natives on the show in the form of Finn Harps' Stephen Folan and Sligo Rovers assistant manager John Russell joining co-hosts Dean Zambra and Breifne Earley ahead of the 2021 League of Ireland season.

Longford Town captain Dean Zambra talks through some of the pre-season action over last weekend with a focus on the buildup to the season for his own club as they return to the Premier Division after a three year stay in the second tier of the league.

He chats about Longford's defeat to full time Galway United last weekend and the impact of players like Dean Byrne after he manufactured a late goal for De Town in their latest warm up game.

Stephen Folan joins Dean and Breifne to discuss his return from Australia after his adventure down under was shortened considerably when the league ran into issues with Covid and was cancelled. Ollie Horgan offered him the opportunity to return home to the top flight here and he's been enjoying his time at Finn Park with Harps.

Sligo's No. 2 John Russell sat down for a chat with Breifne to discuss the arrival of European football back to the Showgrounds after a 6 year absence of continental football in Yeat's county. He spoke about the issues with their foreign players dealing with quarantine restrictions, some injury concerns and their improved recruitment.

Russell discusses the new arrivals of Shane Blaney, Greg Bolger and Robbie McCourt as well as the return of Romeo Parkes and the emergence of Johnny Kenny as a goal poacher through pre-season.