Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Will the world have changed thanks to the World Cup? Or did the world change while the World Cup was taking place and people were too busy watching the World Cup to notice.On Free State today, the great novelist Joseph O’Neill talks to Dion about what he learned watching the World Cup and how the authoritarian US regime prospered during the tournament as other authoritarian regimes prospered in the past.He talks us through his own views on the tournament and tells us the identity of the one team he can support unconditionally.

Mayo have been denied in All Irelands in every way possible - balls bouncing over the bar, the referee blowing up early, own goals... they've also taken a few pastings along the way, but what will they do with the freedom they will have on Sunday?Somehow Mayo have reached an All Ireland final this year against all odds, but does that make this year different? Does everything change because it would be one of the most stunning shocks in history if Kerry lost? Does that give Mayo a freedom they’ve never had before or will it make no difference?On Free State today, we look at the lengths some teams go to win and the ways some find to lose. Does luck play a part when you lose by a point or is it about something more.Joe explains too why he will have a Mayo jersey with him on Sunday and why he hopes that finally the curse is ended.

Did the World Cup final hit different from the million dollar seats or was the best thing about them the helicopter that flew you back to New York City?On Free State, today we ask who mourns the end of Gianni Infantino’s dance with Donald Trump and the depraved nature of football today?Dion does and he explains why football still matters despite the decadence at the top of the game. Things get heated as they discuss it and Dion wonders if he’s talking to Joe or Fr Dougal.

On the weekend of the World Cup final, Eamon Dunphy is our weekend guest. Dunphy reflects on his astonishing career in journalism, the price he paid for being an outsider and why he didn't care when he left the RTE panel.

England lost at the semi final stage again but what does how players are shaped for professional football tell us about how they perform? England lose when they play a team more cunning than them but they have a system designed for obedience.Kids will be dreaming of playing in a World Cup but what is the reality of professional sport.On Free State today we look at how the attritional nature of succeeding in sport can break so many who try to make it. And we ask what it does to those who succeed.

And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. It made sense for Paul McCartney and it makes sense when we consider why we engage with whatever gives us pleasure in life. On Free State today we look at the meaning of sport. Why winning doesn’t matter as much as how sport makes you feel. Does this mean Mayo can win the All Ireland? Does it matter?

Martin Sixmith was the BBC's man in Moscow as the Soviet Union collapsed and Vladimir Putin came to power. In today's podcast he talks about his time in Russia, the fight for the billions lost and his time working on The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.

Jeffrey Donaldson sits in a prison cell, waiting to be sentenced for the most horrific crimes. On Free State today we look at the rise and fall of Jeffrey Donaldson.

Donald Trump destroys everyone in his orbit. His transactional nature means that eventually whoever is close to him is ruined Gianni Infantino might soon know how that feels.‘I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States,’ Infantino said as he explained how FIFA had lifted the suspension on the USA forward Folarin Balogun. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”On Free State, we look at those principles and how they fit in with Donald Trump’s. The White House insists that Trump’s only concern is the American people. As he spends every hour thinking about them, he just happens to have made more than a billion dollars from crypto in his first year back in office.