The 42FM

Why are Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano fighting on the undercard of the ‘freakshow’ that is Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul? Gavin Cooney and Sinead O’Carroll are joined from Dallas by Gavan Casey, and the trio discuss the rise of novelty ‘boxing’ events. They differ on whether Taylor is compromising her legacy by taking her place on such a card. Should the Bray fighter have turned her back on this s...

WITH IRELAND KICKING off their November rugby internationals against New Zealand on Friday night, Gav and Sinéad debate the extent to which Ireland can really be called Rugby Country. Is rugby really a national obsession? The popularity of the provinces and the Irish national team is beyond question, but how has that fanbase grown given so few people play the game? Given the fact the Irish team is...

AS THE LEAGUE of Ireland season draws towards its nerve-shredding final day, Gav and Sinead discuss the boom in popularity of domestic football. Why have crowds increased so significantly this decade? And can the rising numbers be leveraged into that most elusive and long-desired of things: a thriving football industry in Ireland. The pair talk about what needs to happen next to make that aspirati...

There is an election on the horizon - even though the government won’t tell us when it will be. Whenever the official election campaign swings into action, though, it’s a near-certainty that no politician will be asked about sport. Today Gavin and Sinéad wonder why that is the case: can we really be said to care about sport in any real way if it is never raised as an election topic? Gavin and Siné...

GAA president Jarlath Burns last weekend floated the possibility that inter-county GAA managers could be put under regularised contracts, which brought back to the surface a persistent talking point in GAA: payments to managers. Despite the GAA’s amateur status, successive presidents and directors-general of the Association have acknowledged that managers are paid at club and inter-county level. O...

Sinead O'Carroll and Gavin Cooney discuss whether Israel could face sporting sanctions. The pair examine why Israel has been judged differently than Russia by sporting bodies so far. They question where the moral and diplomatic lines sit - and detail how sport can be used for noble and nefarious purposes in an increasingly war-riven world. Hot Pepper by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/ Music...

Gavin and Sinéad are back for the second episode of The 42FM and they aren't alone! This week, Murray Kinsella drops into the studio to discuss the journey that Irish women's rugby has taken to get to the point where they have managed to beat New Zealand. Sinéad, Gavin and Murray analyse the structures of women's rugby in Ireland, discuss the commercial and moral reasons behind the increased focus...

Today we launch a new podcast,  The 42FM  with Gavin Cooney and Sinéad O’Carroll. Building on the success of  Olympics Daily with Cooney & O’Carroll ,  The 42FM  will zoom out on the biggest sports story of the week, bringing the wider context and issues into play. Here, Sinéad and Gavin analyse and debate whether it is right that Limerick’s decorated wing-back Kyle Ha...

Cooney & O'Carroll are back! Off the back of their incredible success with Olympics Daily, Gavin Cooney and Sinéad O'Carroll are back with brand-new podcast The 42FM, an epic handshake between The Journal and The 42! Every Tuesday, they will zoom out on the biggest sports story of the week to explore the wider context and issues at play - it’s sports meets news, current affairs, society and po...

Here it is then, the final episode of of Olympics Daily: Paris 2024. Gavin and Sinead gather at the mics for one last time, mainly because the longer they talk the longer they can convince themselves that the Games haven’t actually ended. They chat through their favourite memories from the Games, and what we learned about our greatest sportspeople. They also reflect on today’s homecoming event for...

And it must come to an end. Gav and Sinéad report from Ireland's final two events at Paris 2024 - an incredible fifth Olympics for Fionnuala McCormack and a sensory blitzkrieg from the velodrome. They also run through their favourite moments of the past 16 days, from Irish gold medals to sport-changing performances. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So close! The brilliant 4x400m women's relay team finished fourth in the Olympic final after running a national record. The quartet were devastated talking to journalists afterwards, and Sinéad and Gav give their view of that room. Earlier, Sinéad went weightlifting to watch a member of the Refugee Olympic Team while Gav dealt with the online fallout of his questioning of Bahraini athlete Salwa Ei...

The country watched on as Rhasidat Adeleke came fourth in a world final for the second time. Sinéad and Gav were in Stade de France to witness the 21-year-old's disappointment as she fell short of her podium dream. They discuss her future - from tomorrow night's relay final to future Olympic and world title chances. Earlier, Sinéad delighted in the 4x400m relay qualification while Gav enjoyed the...

Gavin bagged a media ticket to watch the USA’s star-spangled basketball team and reports back from their stunning comeback win against Serbia, which earned them a spot in Saturday’s gold medal match against France. Sinead, meanwhile, was at the Stade de France to watch Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone turn the 400m hurdles final into history’s fastest procession. They also discuss Noah Lyles’ revelation...

Rhasidat Adeleke has made history by qualifying for an Olympic sprint final, but she admitted afterwards it was a “messy race” that leaves a lot of things to fix for Friday’s final. Gavin reports from a curious night at the Stade de France and asks what her performance augurs for the final. Sinead spent a day at Taekwondo with Jack Woolley, and reports on an agonising near-miss after an agonising...

Kellie Harrington has done it: she has become the first Irish Olympian to successfully defend their title since, well, Friday. Let’s say she’s only the second to do it since 1932. Gav and Sinead were both in Roland-Garros to see the crowning moment of her farewell, and report on what it felt like in the moment and what it means to Kellie, who said that, “this one’s for me.” That was a happy sequel...

Gav and Sinead were both there to witness Rhasidat Adeleke’s comfortable victory in her first run at the Olympic Games. What does the time and result mean for her medal hopes? Is it time to get very excited? Meanwhile, there is live reaction to the breaking news of Ciara Mageean’s devastating, injury-enforced withdrawal from the Olympic Games. From Ireland’s point of view, it’s news to grey an Oly...

Sinead reports back from the final act of Ireland’s miracle Olympic week: a bronze medal for Daniel Wiffen in the 1500m freestyle. But was he a little disappointed with it? And even if he was, does it really matter? Have you not seen how many medals we’ve won? Gavin meanwhile enjoyed/endured/loved/hated another day yoked to Rory McIlroy, as he first raised hope of an Olympic medal before losing it...

It's six medals in six days. Three of them are gold - and one of them might yet turn to gold. Gav and Sinéad are giddy about Team Ireland's phenomenal performance in the first week of Paris 2024. Both of them were there for Rhys McClenaghan's nerves-of-steel turn on the pommel horse, and even in the madness of Olympic glory, he gave answers to some of the technical questions they had about his pod...

Ireland have a second gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games - Gavin reports back from the scene at which Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy confirmed their status as Olympic and Irish greats. It was a tough night for the Irish mixed relay team, who missed out on a place in their final. We discuss whether Rhasidat Adeleke was right to sit it out, and pay tribute to Thomas Barr on his farewell to the...

Sinéad witnessed her fourth medal of the Olympic Games - more than many journalists see in their entire sports writing careers - at the Nautical Stadium as Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle crossed the line in third in the Double Sculls. Gav spent the day wrapping his head around the various controversies surrounding boxing so he could explain them all to our listeners in a clear-eyed, thoughtful manne...

It was all going  too  well - Gav and Sinéad react to abrupt disappointments for Mona McSharry and Aoife O’Rourke before then remembering that Kellie Harrington secured Ireland’s third medal only hours earlier. Gav reports back from the sensation that is Leon Marchand at the La Defense Arena - he won two gold medals in the pool on another raucous night. Swimming has been the game’s highl...

Daniel Wiffen has become the first man to win an Olympic medal for Ireland in the pool - and it's a golden one. Gav and Sinéad were there to witness both the historic 800m race and the Armagh swimmer's answer to an American's question: 'What do you want people to know about you now that you've announced yourself to the world?' Earlier, suncream and the actual sun made covering BMX an extreme sport...

And we're off. Ireland has its first medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games courtesy of Sligo swimmer Mona McSharry. The 23-year-old touched the wall 0.01 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Italian Benedetta Pilato. Gav and Sinéad were there to witness it all, and to chat to the country's newest minted medalist. Earlier in the day, Gav witnessed the remarkable focus of Kellie Harrington as she vies to...

Mona McSharry smashed the Irish record in qualifying for the 100m breaststroke final: Sinead reports from poolside and tells us whether we can now expect her to medal in tomorrow’s final. Gavin meanwhile has suspicions around his reputation confirmed as Jack Marley vomits at the thought of being interviewed by him. (Kind of.) We hear of how Marley has totally flipped the atmosphere among the Irish...