Joseph O'Brien eager for Wemightakedlongway to face Hauk again
The pair met in a Cork maiden last October when Wemightakedlongway showed the benefit of her previous experience, beating Minnie Hauk on her debut by two and a half lengths.
Since then Wemightakedlongway has won one of her four outings, the Group Three Salsabil Stakes at Navan, while Minnie Hauk has so far emerged as the best of her generation, winning at Chester and following up in determined fashion in the Oaks at Epsom from stablemate Whirl.
The form of that race looks strong as Whirl has since beaten Kalpana in the Pretty Polly, a race in which Wemightakedlongway finished fourth.
"We are looking forward to running Wemightakedlongway," the Piltown-based trainer said.
"There is some rain forecast and any rain that falls we think might help her chances in Saturday's Juddmonte Irish Oaks."
Minnie Hauk's trainer Aidan O'Brien also runs Butterfly Wings, Island Hopping and Merrily, while the field is completed by Fozzy Stack's Bay Colony and Johnny Murtagh's Subsonic.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Motorsport: Stafford and Cleary hang on to win in Midleton
With a 15.3-second lead entering the final stage, the Wexford crew of James Stafford/Richard Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) almost backed off too much but did enough to win the Midleton-based CDE Imokilly Rally by 4.4s. Armagh's Jason Black and his Cork based co-driver Karl Egan took second place as they pushed hard on the final stage and while they almost caught Stafford/Cleary, they deprived the Monaghan/Cavan pairing of Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon (Ford Escort) of the runner-up spot by 4.7s. Doogan led after the opening 15.5km stage where Stafford, who reckoned the dust on the stage was more that he anticipated, took time to get into a rhythm and finished just 1.1s in arrears. Gary Kiernan (Ford Escort) in third struggled with brakes that overheated. Top seed Rob Duggan lost time when he had to reverse after he spun his Escort, he ended the stage down in seventh - 12.7s off the lead. Stafford set a strong time on the second stage to move into the lead - 5.7s ahead of Doogan, who wasn't committing as it would involve some risk. Kiernan slotted into third but continued to have brake issues. An untroubled Michael Cahill (Escort) was fourth followed by the Toyota Starlet of Armagh's Jason Black and the Escort of Clare's Padraig Egan (Ford Escort). Although Duggan partially sorted some issues, he withdrew at the Midleton service park leaving Stafford tackle the repeated of both stages as rally leader. The Wexford driver was best on SS3 to move 9s ahead of Doogan while Egan crashed out. On the fourth stage Black, who struggled on the opening stage, showed a fine turn of speed and topped the time sheets to move up two places to third - a mere 1.1s behind Doogan. Stafford reckoned the dust on SS4 prevented him from posting a better time, nevertheless, he led by 13s. Kiernan attributed his time loss on SS4 to having stiffened the front of his Escort too much as it was "lifting off the road" on the high speed sections. Cahill in fifth was a little concerned about some differential issues while Peter Wilson, who posted good times on both reckoned his Escort was running a little too hot. With the brake issues sorted, Moffett was pleased with his performances on both stages, he was seventh in a top ten that also featured Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) and the Escorts of Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin. Walsh, in the Tom Randles Escort, was happy with his performance while Dolphin was unhappy when he encountered a stricken Escort being removed on SS3. Protecting his lead position Stafford stretched his advantage to 15.3s on the penultimate stage. Doogan tried a harder compound that took a few kilometres to work properly as Black trimmed the margin between them to 0.9s. Kiernan and Cahill followed with the latter closing to within 5.3s as Kiernan tried some different tyre options. Moffett had a big moment on the stage and decided to call it a day. At the latter end of the top 10 Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin battled for local bragging rights as the latter cut the deficit to a mere 0.7s. Stafford arrived at the end of final stage a trifle worried as he reckoned he had backed off too much, to his relief, his victory was confirmed within a few minutes. Elsewhere, Kiernan and first time co-driver Jake O'Sullivan (Escort) managed to fend off Cahill for fourth with Meath's Peter Wilson (Ford Escort) sixth. Kenmare's Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) took a trouble-free drive to seventh as Dolphin reeled in Walsh for eighth and top Cork driver by just 0.2s. Youghal's Jason and Ross Ryan (Toyota Starlet) won Class 11F and the Castlemartyr/Ardfield crew of Darragh Walsh/Gary Lombard (Honda Civic) took the Junior honours. CDE Imokilly Rally, Midleton: 1. J. Stafford/R. Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) 41m. 08.2s; 2. J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet)+4.4s; 3. J. Doogan/P. Lennon (Ford Escort)+9.1s; 4. G. Kiernan/J. Sullivan (Ford Escort)+38.3s; 5. M. Cahill/C. Smith (Ford Escort)+44.1s; 6. P. Wilson/J. McCarthy (Ford Escort)+1m. 19.2s; 7. V. O'Shea/E. O'Donoghue (Darrian T90 GTR)+1m. 38.6s; 8. M. Dolphin/T. Delaney (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.2s; 9. C. Walsh/D. Doonan (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.9s; 10. D. Hickey/R. O'Riordan (Ford Escort)+2m. 11.5s.
Sunday World
19 hours ago
- Sunday World
Writer of Jimmy's Winning Matches reveals inspiration behind hit song
The singer Rory Gallagher wrote the song about African sellers The singer and songwriter behind Donegal's football anthem Jimmy's Winning Matches is predicting a four-point victory over Kerry in today's All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Lanzarote-based Rory Gallagher, formerly of The Revs, also reveals that he originally wrote the song about street and beach sellers from Senegal who flog counterfeit goods to tourists in the Canaries. 'It was originally called Jimmy's Selling Watches, but my mother, Mary B, who was in the band Luv Bug with my father, suggested I should change it to Jimmy's Winning Matches when Donegal started doing well under Jim McGuinness,' Rory tells the Sunday World. Donegal manager Jim McGuinness. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 27th He also reveals how Donegal manager McGuinness has mixed feelings about the song. 'Jim came up to me at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin after the All-Ireland final big celebration (in 2012)…he walked over and he had a big smile on him,' Rory says. 'I thought he was going to give me a hug, but he put his arm around me and whispered into my ear, 'See that song you wrote, it has my head melted!' 'Everybody was shouting it at him in the streets. It was this catchphrase that he didn't want. The good thing about it is that it really freaks out our opponents because they just think 'this guy is destined to win matches.' It's his own fault for having such a high-win ratio. 'It could be worse, it could be Jimmy's losing matches. As long as we win everybody's happy.'
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Unbroken bonds - Jim McGuinness and Michael Murphy back in tandem
The night before the their first round championship clash with Cavan in 2012, the Donegal management and players were gathered at the Slieve Russell Hotel in County Cavan. Only once in the previous 67 years had a side won the province starting from the preliminary round and Donegal had never gone back-to-back in Ulster, but expectations were rising with Jimmy winning matches. After watching Chelsea prevail over Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout, a team meeting was held to run through some final preparations ahead of taking on the Breffni men the following day. Yet McGuinness couldn't shake the sense that something wasn't quite right. The team was moving well – in less than four months they would be crowned All-Ireland champions – but did everyone share his unwavering belief? Having fallen short at the penultimate stage a year previously in an infamously low-scoring encounter against Dublin, McGuinness surprised the group by outlining his unease. Not at their effort, but what they hoped to achieve. "Put your hand up if every single morning you wake up, the first thing you think about is winning an All-Ireland medal," he said. Only two hands went up, those belonging to Dermot Molloy and Michael Murphy. McGuinness appreciated the honesty of the group, but would have expected such a response from his general who wouldn't turn 23 until later that summer. Only Tyrone offered meaningful resistance in Ulster, with Down swept away in the decider and the the big prize landed shortly after. By that stage, their working relationship had only been in place for a couple of years. Prior to taking over the Donegal Under-21s, the two had rarely been in each other's company, yet quickly McGuinness recognised something unique in the Glenswilly man. "He is unlike anyone I have come across in terms of his focus," he wrote in his book, Until Victory Always, quite the statement given his own obsession with detail. "When we started out, I got the impression that he was watching and evaluating and working out what he felt was going to happen. Once he was happy that there was substance behind the talk, he just went through the roof. He led." The respect between the pair deepened as Donegal made their way to an All-Ireland Under-21 final in 2010. Murphy was one of seven Donegal-based players based in DCU at the time and told McGuinness that they wouldn't be able to make both training sessions during the week. The solution was for the manager to travel down and put the septet through their paces. "Mesmeric" was McGuinness's description of Murphy's Ulster U21 final performance, a first provincial title at that level in 15 years. He missed a penalty in the dying embers of the All-Ireland final against Jim Gavin's Dublin, but the manager felt the aftermath summed up the player's mentality. "He didn't look for excuses or blame anyone. He took the disappointment, absorbed it and became a better player." A generational talent, Murphy was always going to be front and centre for Donegal's assault on Sam Maguire under any manager, never mind one as forensic as McGuinness. Ultimate glory in 2012 was built on Murphy's early goal against Mayo where his skillset was on full display. Aerial ability, strength in holding off Kevin Keane and the emphatic finish to almost rip the net behind David Clarke. It was Murphy at his devastating best, but in an era of the packed defence, it also caused concern for McGuinness. Stationed permanently as a full-forward in the more generous environment that was U21 level, the player spent more time further out the field at senior level to escape such attention close to goal. Donegal fans, and indeed interested neutrals alike, were at times dismayed, yet McGuinness never wavered. What he lost up top he felt he gained by their man exploding onto the ball and through the opposition defence. GAANOW Rewind takes a look back to one of the great All-Ireland Final goals from @officialdonegal 's Michael Murphy in the 2012 decider against @MayoGAA! — The GAA (@officialgaa) August 2, 2018 "We constantly heard the complaints that we should put him on the edge of the square," he wrote in his book. "We didn't do it all that often for one simple reason: it was very predictable and managers would work out how to double and triple-mark him and make it impossible for him to get the ball. To us it was a nonsense debate. Michael had very good discipline, but he got physically hammered in every game he played." McGuinness's first stint ended with All-Ireland final disappointment at the hands of Kerry, a limpet-like performance from Aidan O'Mahony restricting Murphy to a single point from play, though the manager argued the defeat centered on an overall flat performance rather than the curbing of the captain's influence. The suspicion that Donegal would fail to scale similar heights post-McGuinness was largely proven correct. Rory Gallagher never got the team further than the last eight with little success in Ulster, and while Cavan caused a major surprise to deny Declan Bonner's side a provincial three-in-a-row, they never truly threatened to cause much damage at the business end of the season, notwithstanding Dublin's dominance. Murphy toiled through it all. A selfless and effective figure in the middle third, it wasn't the thrilling, swashbuckling presence tormenting opposition full-back lines that green and yellow-clad supporters craved to see. A haul of three All-Stars points to self-sacrifice for the betterment of the team. After falling short against Armagh in a 2022 qualifier, the 32-year-old was in reflective mood in the dressing room. Could he still give everything to the cause? The only conclusion he could draw in Clones was that he couldn't see how. He slipped out and made for home with his father, bringing the curtain down on a 15-year senior inter-county career. Murphy's absence only accentuated the depths they would sink to in 2023. The shock return of McGuinness to the hot-seat led to inevitable discussions that his loyal lieutenant could be coaxed out of the punditry arena. The pair had always kept in close contact, and McGuinness made no bones that he had "half-tortured" Murphy to return, yet the player didn't waver in his public utterances. "That (retirement) had nothing to do with managers," he said at the time. "So even with Jim coming in, it didn't change. It didn't change one iota." But something did change. Pitchside on BBC duty, he watched Donegal edged out of a dogged All-Ireland semi-final with Galway. The winter GAA rumour mill cranked into gear that McGuinness's persuasive powers had won out, the bombshell confirmed last November. "I know that Neil [his brother, selector] and a lot of people had a path worn to Murphy's door last year," former team-mate Eamon McGee told RTÉ Sport this week. "I thought 'this man's going to break eventually'. And he didn't. Part of me respected that because I wouldn't have been able to turn all them down. "I don't think Murphy would have come back for anybody else." Having helped to mould the new football landscape through the FRC's reforms, the 35-year-old would now get the type of freedom unheard of during his first stint. He's rotated mainly between midfield and full-forward – Michael Langan's goal against Monaghan proof of the damage he can cause - over the course of the championship, and invariably is Shaun Patton's kick-out option in times of need. His six-point haul against Meath, where he was replaced shorty after the interval ,was full of the Murphy bag of tricks. Free-kick taking (Donegal's only two-pointed came from a placed ball), ball winning around the middle and clever interplay with his forwards. His challenge on Meath full-back Sean Rafferty, where he escaped what appeared to be a blatant black card, also illustrated that his dogged determination on the pitch hasn't dimmed either. Kerry may be buoyed from Donegal's only championship defeat this term. Up until the hour mark against Tyrone, Murphy was the most influential player on the pitch. With the game in the melting pot however, he couldn't get his hands on the ball once in the final 10 minutes, Peter Teague winning two kick-outs aimed at Murphy and fouled for another. McBrearty will captain the team from the bench as Donegal go in search of a third All-Ireland title, but there is little doubt that McGuinness's key cog is the all-action hero from Glenswilly. "Michael is similar to Jim," Ryan McHugh said recently. "They have such great leadership qualities; the two of them bounce off each other so well." Two Donegal greats back in tandem.
