Daniel O'Donnell: We're hoping Jimmy and the Donegal players are on song today

Sunday World

4 days ago

Donegal are looking to hit the right notes when they take on Kerry at Croke Park.
We're all on tenterhooks up here in Donegal today, but I have no doubt that Jim McGuinness and his team will be taking home Sam Maguire this afternoon.
Jim has been outstanding as a Donegal manager – and his success in the past has even been immortalised in the now well-known song, Jimmy's Winning Matches.
It was written by Donegal songwriter and singer Rory Gallagher, formerly of a group called The Revs and who now performs under the name Rory & The Island.
Jim McGuinness and Donegal songwriter/singer Rory Gallagher
Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 27th
Rory is now based in Lanzarote where he runs his two bars, The Irish Viking and Rory's Live Lounge in Puerto del Carmen.
He says the song was originally written about the people who sell counterfeit goods – watches, Gucci bags and more - to tourists on the streets and beaches in the Canary Islands.
'It was originally written about a guy from Senegal and was called Jimmy's Selling Watches,' Rory says.
He says the song didn't gain much traction when it first came out. 'It only had 400 views and it wasn't going well,' Rory reveals.
Rory's mother, Mary B, who had been in the bands Luv Bug and Pluto with her husband, Paul, suggested that he should rejig the song and make it about Jim McGuinness.
Mary B said: 'That chorus is so catchy, you should change it around for the Donegal manager and call it Jimmy's Winning Matches.'
Rory says: 'It just clicked after that. I sat down and wrote it and it came out much easier in the space of 10 minutes.
'I put it up online and it just seemed to get bigger and bigger. It's been amazing seeing it come back in the last 18 months.
'I have two sons now, Aidan and Shay, who are six and nine, and it's their first time to experience it
So for them to see all the kids singing it in Donegal, and even Africa now, they're amazed.'
This week there was a lovely video online of children from an orphanage in Tanzania singing and performing Jimmy's Winning Matches.
Two young Donegal women, Eabha Reid from Donegal Town and Anna Gallagher from Termon, taught the children what has now become a famous anthem for the county.
Eabha and Anna are teachers and working as volunteers in the orphanage. You can watch the wonderful video online now.
Rory, who has a new summer single out called Playa Grande, is in Dublin this weekend for the match. He performed on RTE's Up For The Match last night and will be in the Harcourt Hotel this evening from 7pm celebrating Donegal's victory.
Yes, Sam has his bags packed for Donegal.