The 42FM

Midway through the World Cup cycle, Sinead and Gav assess the health of the Ireland rugby team with an eye on the perennial question: Can we win a World Cup quarter final?Optimism levels in rugby country are more subdued than usual following a lacklustre Autumn series, while the provinces, especially Leinster, are not inspiring confidence.The pair discuss what needs to happen between now and October 2027 for Ireland to break through their glass ceiling.Can Ireland blood enough exciting players to freshen up the team? Can Andy Farrell settle on his best 10? Are the lineout and scrum fixable? Is the unwritten rule that Ireland’s internationals have to play club rugby here a help or a hindrance in the modern game? Is Irish rugby suffering a Lions hangover, or is this World Cup cycle one too many for some key players? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mo Salah’s outburst after being left on the bench during Liverpool’s draw with Leeds on Saturday means the legendary forward has probably kicked his last ball for the Reds.But is Salah right to suggest he has been thrown under the bus by the club he has served so well for eight years? Is it natural that he feels singled out when his drop in form has been replicated across Arne Slot’s expensively assembled squad?Or has the Egyptian gone too far in his comments, and failed to grasp the coldly transactional nature of professional football?Gav and Sinead get to grips with the biggest Premier League football story of the season, and in the process grapple with themes of loyalty, status, ego, envy and the challenge of succession planning in a game fraught with unforeseen and crazy events - some of which led to April’s free-scoring title-winning king of Anfield being deemed past it by September. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fans across the world are eagerly anticipating the finale of the Formula 1 season this weekend, but how much of that is down to the sport, and how much is due to the dramatisation of everything that is F1 on the Netflix series Drive to Survive?This week Sinead and Gav marvel at how F1 has cracked America with the help of Netflix, and wonder what Irish sports and teams could benefit from a more open attitude towards documentary series makers.They discuss which behind-the-scenes shows have been a success, and which have left the viewers feeling short-changed as subjects, such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, control their own narrative.And, in the spirit of open access, Sinead and Gav consider how much they’d like it if a camera crew were given full access to The Journal and The 42 tomorrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After Scotland’s remarkable qualification for next year’s World Cup, captain Andy Robertson gave an emotional insight into his grief following the tragic death of his Liverpool team-mate, Diogo Jota.On this week’s podcast, Sinéad and Gavin discuss Robertson’s interview, and why it led to a wider media discussion about the continuing impact of Jota’s death on everyone at Liverpool.With Liverpool enduring a terrible run of results on the pitch, they explore how to discuss the players’ on-field underperformance in the context of this grief. Is Jota’s death and his family’s grief at risk of being trivialised by being used by pundits and journalists to explain poor results on a football pitch? Or are we doing a disservice to the players involved by not acknowledging it?And why do we not give space to our elite sportspeople to be human beings? Is this unfair on our behalf, or is it part of the contract between supporter and the well-paid football professional: that they are not allowed any room for escapism in what is our favourite form of escapism?Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie and gavincooney@the42.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is another gloriously happy day, as Sinéad and Gavin continue to bask with the rest of you in the beautiful afterglow of Ireland’s victory in Hungary. Gavin is back from Budapest and gives Sinéad the lowdown on how the whole, mad drama played out in the stadium. But truly it doesn’t matter where you watch Troy Parrott’s winning goal - what matters is that you are united with millions of Irish people in such total happiness.Sinéad and Gavin dig into why Ireland’s wins mean so much to so many people. Is this merely proof that we are Football Country, rather than Rugby Country? Or is there something deeper at play?How has the national football team become such a vital part of our national identity? Why is it so important that a whole generation of players and fans experienced this moment?Basically - why are we so ludicrously happy?Get in touch - gavincooney@the42.ie and sinead@thejournal.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many times has Sinéad asked Gav is it possible? Could we?... is there any way? She should have been asking Troy Parrott.Ireland's stunning 3-2 win over Hungary is all anyone wants to talk about today. Unfortunately, Gav and Sinéad record on Tuesdays and Gav, naturally, is a wanted man elsewhere today. But we wanted to give our loyal listeners an extra treat - free access to The 42's Football Family podcast. We will be back tomorrow to talk more football, and the impact of a week like we've just had. But until then, enjoy the insights from The 42's David Sneyd and Shane Keegan, alongside our own Gav. If you like what you hear, and honestly, how could you not? You can subscribe to The 42 on a trial basis for just 1 euro a month at the moment. What a no brainer. We're in for a busy year! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the League of Ireland season over, clubs’ attention now turns to recruiting new players for next year, during which they will quickly run into the realities of Ireland’s housing crisis.On this week’s show, Sinéad and Gavin explain how the crisis affects professional sport in Ireland, how it has come to define certain sports and competitions, and how these impacts articulate the wider issues felt by a whole generation of Irish people. They then look at the reasons underpinning the crisis: do we simply not have enough houses? Or are there wider problems with the investment funds buying up the few houses that are put on the Irish market? They then point to the incipient triumph of Ireland’s hosting of the Ryder Cup and ask whether politicians really believe this is a housing crisis, and whether they are committed as they claim to be when it comes to addressing it.Get in touch - gavincooney@the42.ie and sinead@thejournal.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Irish language and hurling should be accessible and a source of joy to many. Has this always been the case? Is it even the case now? Or are they ring-fenced? Taught in specific environments - school and GAA clubs that happen to offer hurling, which are not so plentiful in much of the country?But what could happen if the language and game of hurling were not restricted to these environments? How could they begin to thrive if attempts to make them more widely available were backed rather than thwarted?These are some of the questions tackled by Ciarán Murphy of the Second Captains in his new book, Old Parish, where he takes up hurling in his early 40s.Today, he chats with Sinead about the humbling effects of competitive hurling, and the life-affirming adventure of returning to his father’s club in the Waterford Gaeltacht to live, write and hurl. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gav and Sinead discuss the events of last week, when there were yet more job losses in Irish sports journalism.This will affect sports fans in a number of ways, from there being fewer experienced people to hold organisations and individuals to account, to less depth and quality in the coverage of sport.Why are some media organisations laying off their most seasoned journalists? Why is there less money in the fourth estate nowadays? How did the internet change the game and why did so many newspapers and websites fall foul of social media algorithm changes?The pair ponder what’s next for the industry and Sinead explains why the future for media firms could be a return to more traditional journalistic practices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is it so hard to integrate the GAA, Camogie Association and LGFA? Why should it cost the mooted half a billion euro to do so, and why have the leadership of the GAA been so silent on the matter to date, with the vacuum being filled by naysayers?Sinead and Gav address these and more issues around Integration, and consider how much of the €500 million project cost is down to the ‘centre of excellence culture’ which implores county boards to invest more and more money on land and facilities for players earmarked as elite.Also, the FAI have been criticised strongly for not attending Oireachtas Committees. Why not the same volume of headlines for the GAA, Camogie Association and LGFA who have so far not engaged with elected representatives in public despite an invitation to attend Leinster House this month? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish Olympic swimmer Shane Ryan last week announced his retirement from competitive swimming before this week dropping a bombshell: he has signed up to compete at the Enhanced Games, a version of the Olympic Games at which competitors are allowed to take performance-enhancing drugs.On this week’s show, Sinéad and Gavin explain just what the Enhanced Games are, and who its backers are. On the face of it, its creators are modelling the Games as not just an alternative but a successor to the Olympic Games, having made many compelling criticisms of the Olympic Games in its current guise. But why do they believe the alternative to the Games’ deeply-flawed anti-doping regimen is to simply allow athletes to dope? And why would sports fans tune in to simply watch world records being broken, rather than watch true competition?Sinéad and Gavin explain why the Enhanced Games are not imagined as a sporting competition, but rather demonstrations of science, drawing a link to the libertarian and transhumanist beliefs of the Games’ founders, one of whom says that ageing “is a disease that we should be able to treat, cure, and eventually solve.”Rather than merely highlight the Olympic Games’ many, many flaws, the Enhanced Games instead represents something else - it’s where Silicon Valley, libertarian tech bros get their hands on sport.Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie and gavincooney@the42.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s podcast, Sinead and Gavin talk to Bláthnaid Raleigh.In July 2019, Bláthnaid was raped by Jonathan Moran at a house party in Galway. Back in their hometown of Mullingar, Bláthnaid would spend the next five years living with the effects; her attacker, unable to be identified for legal reasons, continued his life working, socialising and playing rugby, before he was jailed in July 2024.Today, Bláthnaid talks about the attack, and its devastating impact on her life and family. She also discusses sport, and how it heightened her sense of isolation following the assault. She talks about how becoming immersed in new sports in recent years has helped her to piece her life back together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sinead and Gav sift through the wreckage of Jim Gavin’s presidential campaign and ponder why so many people thought the former Dublin manager was a suitable candidate.Does this episode now force a reset in how we look at venerated GAA figures? Does success in football put you in any kind of stead to become President of Ireland, or to withstand the brutalities of the campaign?What next now for Gavin, a man that has seen his team dominate Gaelic football, who has reshaped the rules to breathe new life into the sport, but now faces a most public humiliation? How can he atone for the actions that ended his already beleaguered campaign?What will he do next? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gav dials in from New York City, following the most remarkable, the most epic and the most fractious Ryder Cup of all.He tells Sinead about the personal and vitriolic abuse that was directed at Europe’s players, Rory McIlroy in particular.He describes the febrile atmosphere and tries to make sense of how we’ve arrived at a stage where this passes as acceptable behaviour for some of the attendees at Bethpage Black.Gav details how Shane Lowry summoned extraordinary courage to guarantee Europe retained the Cup, while Sinead wonders how seismic the Adare Manor episode of the competition will now be in 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gav dials in from Bethpage Black, where the Trump-attended 45th Ryder Cup tees off this week.He tells Sinead why this edition of the inter-continental grudge match will be more politically freighted than usual, but that thoughts of a raucous, blue collar New York crowd have likely been curtailed by the extraordinary ticket prices.The pair discuss Europe’s Corinthian refusal to be paid to represent the blue and gold, versus the US player’s clear preference for greenbacks. The contrast has been mischievously exploited by the travelling press pack, who are only going to stoke the fire more as the competition nears.Meanwhile, Gav fills us in on his atypical Airbnb experience so far, where he finds himself tip-toeing around a couch-slumbering, turbo-peddling host in suburban NYC. If the price seems too good to be true, then it probably is folks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park on 28 September, marking the first regular-season NFL game to be played in Ireland. On this week’s show, Sinéad and Gavin ask why there has been so little public debate as to whether hosting America’s Game in Dublin is a good idea. They discuss what the NFL is, and explain its close ties to the US military. As America continues to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza, why are we willing to pay State money to host this game? Or is the hosting of this game just another part of Ireland’s pragmatic and lucrative embrace of America?They also discuss the awarding of the 2026 Irish Open to President Trump’s course in Doonbeg. Are we doing this to favour or placate the American president? And if we need to do this, what does this actually say about our sovereignty? Are we actually free at all?Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie and gavincooney@the42.ie  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gavin joins Sinéad from Yerevan ahead of this evening's must-win World Cup qualifier vs Armenia. If the Boys in Green claim three points, can a generation of Irish fans who missed out on Italia 90 and Saipan dare to dream of seeing their nation on the biggest stage?Sinéad and Gav discuss their mixed emotions following Ireland's 2-2 draw vs Hungary last weekend and draw comparisons between Heimir Hallgrímsson and previous Irish managers Jack Charlton and Vera Pauw.The duo analyse Ireland's lack of a sport psychologist due to the FAI's financial struggles, and the negative impact this can have on elite athletes competing at the highest level. Reports of imminent redundancies within the association are also addressed.Finally, Gav reflects on Rory McIlroy's stunning dramatic Irish open win, and how he missed all of the drama while en route to Armenia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dana, Adi Roche, Sean Gallagher, David Norris, Gavin Duffy - all people who thought they had a good enough public standing to seek election to Áras an Uachtaráin. And all likely regretted putting their name forward following bruising campaigns replete with intense scrutiny and accusations, some of which were irrelevant, or untrue, or both.Into that breach now steps Jim Gavin, with an already stellar reputation burnished by his decisive role in saving Gaelic football. But can his aura survive contact with Ireland’s political system and news media?The days of keeping the public at arm’s length while he tends to the success of a generational football team are over. Now he must engage with the Irish people and their press.The awkward questions are about to start and they’ll come fast and frequent until polling day. Is one of Ireland’s most famously prepared and meticulous people ready for what’s next? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Galway Races week, so on this week’s episode Sinéad and Gavin dive into the Irish State funding of horse racing. They present the figures which show horse racing earns multiples more of taxpayer’s money than any other sport, ask if this is fair, and explain how this is justified by our politicians: that horse racing is not a sport, but an industry. They then interrogate that claim, and find that they are far from alone in being sceptical of it.Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie and gavincooney@the42.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, Sinéad and Gavin look back on a shocking All-Ireland final collapse by Cork. Did they choke? And why is there such stigma attached to calling sportspeople chokers? They explain what it means to choke, and why it happens. They also discuss whether the importance of sports psychology and mental performance in sport is underrated, and whether Cork can ever recover from their Tipperary calamity.Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie and gavincooney@the42.ie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.