The 42 GAA Weekly

Fintan O’Toole and Declan Bogue join Ronan Early ahead of a decisive weekend in Munster, Ulster and Leinster. Tipperary and in particular Clare may have a route back to the All-Ireland series should they lose in Thurles on Saturday - but realistically neither will be in a healthy state following a defeat in Thurles. How have the All-Ireland champions of 2025 and 24 arrived at such a critical juncture at this stage of the season? And who can revitalise their campaign this weekend?Also, are the GAA winning their battle for media supremacy? Backlash to Clare and Tipp being on GAA+ has been muted so far. Have the association been helped in this regard by the fact that in the region of 400,000 households have a dodgy box? Are the potentially outraged citizens content to fill their boots with illegal streams, while others pay the subscription?Declan tells us how Monaghan continue to outperform the external expectations of a county with a small population. Can they beat Armagh in the Ulster final, or will Kieran McGeeney and co land the prize they have chased so hard this decade? And in Leinster, can Westmeath upset Dublin?To get in touch with the show, email Fintan@the42.ie, Ronan@the42.ie or Declan@the42.ie

Fintan O'Toole is joined by Paul Brennan of The Kerryman to reflect on Kerry's Munster Senior Football Championship final win over Cork.

Fintan O’Toole and Declan Bogue join Ronan Early on a week when it dawned on the wider GAA public that provincial finals ain’t what they used to be. Round 2a and 2b of the All-Ireland series might have stolen a march on set-piece occasions that have stood for generations, but is that right?And who should show the plum ties from the latest new format? Do GAA+ now hold all the aces? If so, how does this serve the public?Also, previewed today are Cork-Kerry, Galway-Roscommon and the Munster hurling championship clash of Waterford-Cork as well as key Leinster battles, Wexford-Dublin and Offaly-Kilkenny.Finally, what’s in a rivalry if one side is dominant and the other doesn’t seem to care all that much? Or, can the embers of hatred - the good-natured sporting type - ignite again?

Declan Bogue and Fintan O’Toole join Ronan Early to look ahead to the weekend’s action and reflect on some of last weekend’s shocks.The lads are feeling humbled and fallible after getting a few of their big calls wrong last week, but like true inter-county stalwarts they are blocking out the outside noise and only taking feedback from within the group as they set out to make another bunch of predictions - which could go either way.Will Down carry their irresistible form into Saturday’s meeting with Armagh? Can Louth see off Dublin and make it to another Leinster final against Westmeath or Kildare?And, in hurling, can Clare capitalise on the absence of Cian Lynch and most probably Aaron Gillane too and beat Limerick in Ennis?Get in touch with the pod at ronan@the42.ie, fintan@the42.ie or declan@the42.ie.

Fintan O'Toole and Denis Hurley of the Echo provide immediate reaction in the aftermath of a big day in the Munster Hurling Championship.

Fintan O’Toole joins Ronan Early to look ahead to a huge weekend of Munster and Leinster championship hurling.Can Tipperary find the right level of energy and form to see off Waterford and avoid their All-Ireland defence being in tatters before the start of May? And what can Waterford do to improve their spread of scorers and record a valuable home win, to back up their positive performance in Ennis?Is the pressure off Cork after their opening-day win? And is John Kiely feeling the pressure in his appeal for Limerick’s support to show up in numbers at Páirc Ui Chaoimh?Meanwhile, in Leinster, Kilkenny will be staring down the barrel if they don’t beat Wexford at Nowlan Park. But are Wexford, who put daylight between themselves and Kildare with a late burst, equipped to capitalise on Kilkenny’s apparent lack of firepower?