The Irish Times today announced the signing of an extended contract with the Second Captains team who provide The Irish Times Second Captains Podcast; this announcement comes on the back of a very successful 12 months which saw weekly plays of up to 120,000 on SoundCloud. The multi-award winning team of Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Ciaran Murphy, Simon Hick and Mark Horgan joined The Irish Times in June 2013 to produce outstanding online radio content specifically for The Irish Times online audience.

With four shows a week, including two dedicated entirely to football, The Irish Times Second Captains shows are delivered in the team's unique entertaining style and have featured a range of well-known contributors from the world of sport including Richard Sadlier, Shane Horgan, Nicky English, Gerry Thornley, Oisin McConville, Malachy Clerkin and Sid Lowe.

The announcement coincides with an action-packed couple of months of sport. The team are presenting additional Second Captains World Cup shows from Monday to Thursday for the duration of the tournament with Ken Early reporting live from Brazil. Early has joined Irish Times soccer correspondent Emmet Malone and soccer writers Dave McKechnie and Tom Hennigan to cover the World Cup in print and online.

Speaking today, Liam Kavanagh, managing director of The Irish Times said: "We are delighted to have the Second Captains team continue with The Irish Times. Readers have responded extremely positively to this new channel for Irish Times content, with 180,000-strong weekly audiences exceeding those of many well known commercial radio programmes. The addition of the Second Captains to The Irish Times sports team has been a roaring success that has complemented the top quality sports journalism we offer."

Speaking about their continuation in The Irish Times, Mark Horgan, of Second Captains said: “The response to The Irish Times Second Captains podcasts has been phenomenal. It has been great to be a part of an innovative new approach, and even better to see how our audience has grown, and we are delighted to be a part of The Irish Times team.”

The Irish Times Second Captains Podcast is easily accessible and available worldwide through www.irishtimes.com/secondcaptains, iTunes and SoundCloud.