The 42FM

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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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?

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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 - [email protected] and [email protected]

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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 - [email protected] and [email protected]

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