Rugby World Cup Fever

The beginning of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and with it Ireland’s place as the number 1 ranked team in the world, has meant that hope and expectations are at an all-time high for the Irish public.

Could we actually be celebrating a World Cup winning Irish sports team come the end of October?

The Left Wing podcast, produced by LastCast Media, for Mediahuis Ireland, is releasing daily episodes for the duration of the tournament with the Irish Indo’s team of rugby writers over in France also joined by Luke Fitzgerald, Will Slattery and Jonathan Bradley in Ireland to bring team announcements, the latest news and the best post-match analysis.

Interest in rugby podcasts has soared in the build-up to the tournament and with it The Left Wing podcast is riding high in the charts on Apple and Spotify - and it’s not just the sports charts either, the Left Wing is hitting the Top 10 of the overall Apple and Spotify charts showing just how much interest there is in the show.

Listen and follow on Apple or Spotify and you’ll never miss a thing from the Rugby World Cup.

Agriland's The Farming Week

We’re delighted to be working with Ireland’s largest digital publisher of agricultural news, Agriland Media, on their first podcast production.

LastCast Media is working with their expert team of editors and journalists to bring you The Farming Week, a weekly podcast show that covers the most important stories in Irish agriculture from the Agriland news desk.

Released every Friday, The Farming Week, will make sure those involved in Irish agriculture will stay up-to-date on the most important stories of the week.

Listen & follow on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from and stay tuned as Agriland develops further exciting podcasts in the future.

The Throw-In Hurling & Football Championship Podcasts

The Throw-In, the Irish Independent’s popular GAA podcast, is now being split into two separate shows with separate hurling and football episodes each week being produced by LastCast Media.

With so many talking points around the games, The Throw-In Hurling and The Throw-In Football shows will give the presenters and contributors more time each week to delve into and dissect the issues that GAA fans are talking about.

The Throw-In Hurling show is presented by Michael Verney with Kilkenny legend, Eddie Brennan, and Waterford legend, John Mullane, joining Michael each week to give their thoughts and provide plenty of frank and honest opinions.

The Throw-In Football show is presented by Will Slattery and he’s joined by Monaghan legend, Dick Clerkin, and GAA writers from the Irish Independent, including Donnchadh Boyle, Colm Keys, Conor McKeon and Frank Roche.

Each show is released on Monday lunchtime and you can listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Commit 2 Lead

LastCast Media is delighted to be working with McNulty Performance once again producing digital audio content around Enda McNulty’s latest book, Commit 2 Lead, which was launched to a packed audience from the worlds of business, media and entertainment in the Mansion House this week.

It’s a book full of insights, wisdom and experience on how to first of all lead yourself before then looking to lead others.

Listen out in the near future for the audiobook and podcast series around Commit 2 Lead.

In the meantime, you can listen to previous podcast series from Enda here.

Six Nations Special Episodes

The start of the 2023 Six Nations is of huge interest to Irish rugby fans, especially as this is a Rugby World Cup year, and the Ireland is ranked number one in the world.

Expectations are high and so is the demand for Irish rugby podcasts.

During the Six Nations and over the next five match-weeks, LastCast Media will be producing additional Left Wing episodes.

There will be Monday squad updates, the usual midweek, in-depth analysis from Luke Fitzgerald, team news on Thursdays and feature interviews on the teams Ireland will be facing.

Plus, the hugely popular post-match analysis shows right after the final whistle will be back.

With Will Slattery and Sinéad Kissane presenting and joined by the Irish Independent’s rugby team of Rúaidhrí O’Connor, Cian Tracey, Luke Fitzgerald and guests, the Left Wing is already soaring high in the podcast charts meeting the demands for ever-more rugby episodes during this important tournament.

Stay tuned for even more to come during the Rugby World Cup in 2023.

Listen & Follow on Apple/Spotify.

The Water Forum for Science Week 2022

LastCast Media was delighted to work again with the National Water Forum, An Fóram Uisce, producing a special podcast and video episode as part of Science Week 2022.

Dr. Triona McGrath, Research Lead, National Water Forum, presented a discussion on Water Management & Climate Action with colleagues and experts including:

Dr Michele McKeown, Assistant Professor, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences,  University College Cork;

Dr Fiachra O’Loughlin, Assistant Professor, Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, University College Dublin;

Professor Conor Murphy, Irish Climate Analysis and Research UnitS (ICARUS)  Maynooth University.

The video is available to watch on the Water Forum’s YouTube channel and on their newly, created podcast channel which can be listened to via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

The Left Wing November Internationals Coverage

For the duration of the Irish rugby November internationals against South Africa, Fiji and Australia, the Left Wing podcast will be releasing three episodes each week.

The usual Wednesday show with Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald providing in-depth Irish rugby analysis will appear, along with shorter Thursday team news episodes looking at the starting XV announcement, presented by Sinead Kissane.

The third show of the week is a post-match reaction show with Irish Independent writers from the Aviva stadium minutes after the final whistle.

Video clips featuring the best of the episodes are also recorded and released on the Irish Independent’s Sports Facebook channel.

All three shows have seen a huge increase in weekly listenership showing the appetite for more podcast rugby coverage from one of Ireland’s favourite rugby podcasts.

Listen and follow The Left Wing on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from.

The Dairy Edge Celebrates Half a Million Listens

Since Teagasc hired LastCast Media to launch and produce The Dairy Edge podcast in January 2018, Ireland’s first dairy-focused podcast has gone from strength to strength and since the summer, has reached the incredible milestone of half a million listens.

Presented by Emma-Louise Coffey, along with the additional bonus content from Stuart Childs of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, The Dairy Edge has given farmers and the industry weekly insights and analysis as well as farmer stories and experiences to keep its listeners up-to-date with developments in dairy farming.

The success of this podcast is down to the guests who give of their time and share their knowledge as well as the listeners - the growth in the Dairy Edge reflects Irish dairy farmers’ willingness to learn and improve in all aspects of their dairy farm business.

Listen & Follow on Apple or Spotify.

Ireland on the Fly Hits Top 50 on Apple Podcast Charts

Ireland on the Fly started off as a passion project during Covid as a fortnightly podcast covering fly fishing in Ireland.

But since the start of this year, well-known Lough Corrib guide, Tom Doc Sullivan, has also joined the podcast as co-host and now the show is releasing regular episodes of 3-4 a month.

Fly fishing is a niche enough sport, although interest in fishing and the outdoors in general has seen an uptick since the Covid lockdowns, so it was brilliant to see Ireland’s only fly fishing podcast reach the top 50 on the Apple Podcast Sport charts in recent weeks, sitting alongside shows on the Premier League, Arsenal and other mainstream sports content.

It’s an incredible achievement for a small but growing podcast that showcases exactly what podcasting is all about - interesting, regular content to a dedicated community of followers hungry and eager for podcast content focused around their interest.

Fly fishing podcasts have been generally dominated by the US market which can be frustrating for fly anglers this side of the water who are looking for content, interviews, news and stories tailored to their experiences and places that they fish.

Having dipped our toes in this space and seen the impact it can have, watch this space for more original fly fishing podcasts from LastCast Media in the future.

Listen and Follow the show on Apple or Spotify.

The Left Wing Returns for its Sixth Season

The hugely popular Left Wing podcast with Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald has returned for its sixth season of incisive and entertaining rugby chat.

Covering the week’s biggest stories in Irish and international rugby, Will and Luke are joined by a host of guests including the Irish Independent’s rugby writers, Rúaidhrí O’Connor and Cian Tracey, plus big names featured on the show included Sean O’Brien, Johnny Sexton and Paul O’Connell.

Additional bonus team announcement and post-match reaction episodes have all been added to the show’s line-up and will feature again for the coming November internationals.

Listen and follow on Apple or Spotify.