Aidan O’Brien has not ruled out the possibility of running both City Of Troy and Henry Longfellow in Sunday’s Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh.
Both colts are unbeaten and feature prominently in the betting for next year’s Classics.
O’Brien had suggested that Henry Longfellow would wait for the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket after he won the Futurity Stakes three weeks ago but his name was a surprise inclusion when declarations came through on Friday morning.
“It’s possible they could both run. Both are in good form,” said O’Brien.
“Obviously City Of Troy would prefer the ground to be quick whereas Henry Longfellow handles an ease but they are both in good form.
“Both of them have had two runs each. It’s a good while since City Of Troy ran but he’s been in good form at home so I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on.
“Obviously Henry Longfellow only ran a couple of weeks ago but he’s been well also.
“It has been a while since City Of Troy ran so he is ready for a comeback run if we’re going to run him again after this but he looked a bit unusual at Newmarket, didn’t he.”
Vice-captain James Ryan insists Ireland must begin the Rugby World Cup with “real intent” if they have genuine aspirations of being crowned champions.
Andy Farrell’s side are out to substantiate their status as the top-ranked Test team and one of the pre-tournament favourites.
The Six Nations winners launch their campaign on Saturday afternoon against Pool B minnows Romania at a sold-out Stade de Bordeaux expected to be packed with Irish fans.
Leinster lock Ryan, who concedes Ireland were below their best in warm-up victories over Italy, England and Samoa, says his side are striving for a complete 80-minute performance.
“It’s definitely not about easing ourselves in,” said the 27-year-old. “If we’re going to take this competition seriously I don’t think you can ease yourself into any game.
“We’ve got to go in with the right mentality.
“Tomorrow is about playing with real intent and putting in a performance that we know we’re capable of.
“We were a bit off in a couple of the pre-season games, and we didn’t hit that 80-minute performance we were looking for.
“Tomorrow for us is about winning every moment, or winning as many moments as we can.
“We don’t want to drift or lose 10 minutes or 15 minutes.
“We’re definitely striving for the full 80-minute performance tomorrow that we can be proud of, and hopefully give the Irish people there tomorrow something to cheer about.”
Warren Gatland has no doubt that Wales are fully conditioned for Bordeaux’s blistering heat as they aim to turn up the temeprature on Rugby World Cup opponents Fiji.
It is due to hit 36 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while not dropping much below 30 a day later despite a kick-off of 9pm local time.
Wales, though, look set to reap the benefits of punishing conditions at training camps in Switzerland and Turkey that formed a central part of their tournament warm-up.
“I think in international rugby you have to go to dark places and you have to be hurting,” Wales head coach Gatland said.
“It’s whether other teams are hurting that little bit more than you.
“Everyone is talking about the heat being an advantage to Fiji, but we’ve had some pretty gruelling sessions in heat so we are conditioned to that.
“We’ve been comfortable with the pace of the game and the intensity of the game. Probably from the warm-up games, where the ball-in-play time against England in the first game was 39 minutes, we looked good.
“In the second game against England, it was 30 minutes and it probably didn’t allow us to use some of the hard work we’ve put in. It has definitely been a focus for us.”
Wales meet Fiji for the fifth successive World Cup in a pool game, and while they have won three in a row after being dumped out of the 2007 tournament, they are expecting a fierce challenge.
Fiji’s quality – and a far stronger set-piece than previously – was highlighted in their historic victory over England at Twickenham last month.
Gatland added: “You’ve just got to defend well for a start. We know they are dangerous.
“At some stage, they will make a break or get an offload away. It’s then how we react to that quickly.
“For us, we’ve spoken about discipline and keeping them out of our 22. They tend to come alive in opposition 22s. We are in a good place for the challenge, physically and mentally.”
It will be Gatland’s fourth World Cup at the Wales helm after masterminding semi-final appearances in 2011 and 2019, while they also reached the quarter-finals in 2013.
There are similarities with that 2011 campaign in New Zealand, when Wales were captained by a 22-year-old Sam Warburton, while this time around 23-year-old Jac Morgan leads them into tournament battle.
As 12 years ago, there is also a sprinkling of exciting young players, with Morgan and his co-captain Dewi Lake leading a crop that includes the likes of Sam Costelow, Rio Dyer and Mason Grady.
“We’ve had some new faces come in, which has been great for the group. A lot of young players have got some experience,” Gatland said.
“We’ve had some issues in Welsh rugby. Hopefully those are behind us now and we can completely focus on this World Cup.
“I get nervous myself. I think nerves are always a positive. When you are nervous about the game or what potentially might happen, it focuses the mind in terms of what is coming.
“There is nothing wrong with that. I see it as a real positive in terms of the players being right on the edge in terms of their preparation before the game.
“Dan Biggar made a good point this morning, saying we were 10-0 down four years ago after Fiji scored early on, but we kept calm, stuck to our processes and got back into it.
“We know Fiji can start well and we need to start well, but it is making sure we are really clear about what we want to achieve and sticking to the processes in place.”
Maro Itoje insists England are ready to show their true selves when they launch the Rugby World Cup with the toughest assignment of their group campaign against Argentina.
For the first time in the fixture’s 42 years England are underdogs on the basis of an alarming run that has produced five defeats in their last six Tests, including a first ever loss to Fiji.
The Pumas, meanwhile, have been acclaimed by Steve Borthwick as the best team to leave Argentinian shores and November’s 30-29 victory at Twickenham is still vivid in the memory.
England are struggling on multiple fronts – attack, defence, discipline, cohesion, confidence – and have plummeted to eighth in the global rankings, two places lower than Saturday’s opponents in Marseille.
Itoje, however, insists they are about to turn the corner and place one foot into the quarter-finals.
“We know who we are. We know the type of players we have. We know the quality of coaches we have,” Itoje said.
“Yes we haven’t in recent times played as well as we can, but we know the potential of this group.
“And when you know the potential of this group and you know the attitude of the players and the coaches, it can only fill you with confidence.
“We know we haven’t played our best rugby, but I guess that may add an element of fuel.
“The real motivation is where this team can go. The real motivation is how we can properly display the best of ourselves and give the very best account of ourselves.
“That’s the exciting opportunity that this brings. It’s an incredible opportunity and that’s the motivation to see where we can go and how good we can be.
“There is a strong feeling and belief within the group now that things can change very quickly and the best is yet to come.
“Moments like this don’t come very often throughout our careers. Top, top players have three chances and that’s a lot. So we want to take this with both hands.”
If they are to topple Argentina, England will need to produce a level of performance that has been beyond them so far in Borthwick’s nine Tests in charge.
Expectations are low, even allowing for their presence in the easier side of the draw, but attack coach Richard Wigglesworth insists the outside noise is being tuned out.
“I don’t know if I’m too interested in expectations outside of the squad, if I’m being honest. That’s been labelled at us a few times,” Wigglesworth said.
“You’ve got to understand that this squad is incredibly tight and determined. Whether that is from the outside or within, that has always been there.
“The expectation that Argentina maybe go in as favourites makes no difference to us. We are incredibly determined to go out there and give the absolute best of ourselves.”
Ireland launch their Rugby World Cup campaign against Pool B minnows Romania in Bordeaux.
Johnny Sexton will captain the world’s top-ranked nation on his return from suspension, with head coach Andy Farrell having named the majority of his star names.
Here, the PA news agency picks out some of the main talking points ahead of Saturday’s clash.
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Sexton’s final year in professional rugby has already been a wild rollercoaster ride. The fly-half sustained a cheekbone injury on New Year’s Day but returned to lead Ireland to a Six Nations Grand Slam. The joy of achieving that feat on home soil for the first time was tempered by him suffering a season-ending groin injury, which denied him a Leinster farewell and was later compounded by a three-match ban for his “confrontational and aggressive” behaviour towards referee Jaco Peyper. Sexton subsequently missed Ireland’s World Cup warm-up fixtures. The 38-year-old is “delighted to be back” and dreaming of going all the way.
Room for improvement
Ireland stretched their winning run to a national-record 13 matches with warm-up victories over Italy, England and Samoa last month. Nevertheless, Farrell’s men were far from their free-flowing best in those outings and, according to the head coach, a little clunky. Players put up for media this week repeatedly spoke of the need for improvement as well as their hopes of laying down a marker. Ireland have won their last nine meetings with Romania. Those triumphs include World Cup victories in 1999, 2003 and 2015 – each by remarkably similar scorelines: 44-14, 45-17 and 44-10 respectively.
The curious case of Mack Hansen
Farrell’s strong selection had one notable absentee: Mack Hansen. The Australia-born wing has been virtually ever-present for Ireland since his debut in last year’s Six Nations. Yet, while the rest of Ireland’s first-choice stars made the matchday squad, he was excluded, despite being fit. Farrell sparked speculation about the situation with cryptic comments in which he said some members of his squad did not handle off-field distractions very well when his team were based in Biarritz for their final warm-up game against Samoa in nearby Bayonne. Assistant coach Mike Catt dismissed suggestions Hansen had been dropped due to an internal disciplinary issue.
Baking hot Bordeaux
Ireland and Romania are poised to run out in front of a capacity-crowd of approximately 42,000 in heat of around 35 degrees Celsius. The blistering conditions will no doubt have an impact on proceedings. Yet Ireland feel primed. Training camps in Portugal and Biarritz last month provided players with exposure to warm weather, while they have trained in similar temperatures this week at their base in Tours. Vice-captain James Ryan said: “I like to think we’ve gotten maybe more used to the heat. But you can’t hide from it. It’s probably going to be the hottest part of the day. But it can’t be an excuse.”
Opportunity knocks for Joe McCarthy
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Farrell’s opening line-up suggests a statement win is very much in his mind. Rookie lock Joe McCarthy is an eye-catching exception. The towering 22-year-old is the least-experienced international in Ireland’s 33-man group but has been handed a chance to impress with only his second Test start. His inclusion in the second row sees Tadhg Beirne drop back to blindside flanker and Peter O’Mahony switch to openside, while world player of the year Josh Van Der Flier begins on the bench. Speaking of McCarthy, Farrell said: “He deserves it with the form that he’s shown, not just in the games that he’s played, but also in his preparation over the last 10, 11 weeks.”
Further allegations against Manchester United winger Antony have emerged following the domestic abuse claims that saw him dropped by Brazil.
The 23-year-old earlier this week was omitted from the Brazil squad after accusations of physical aggression on a number of occasions since January towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin, which are being investigated by police and which he denies.
Since then, Brazilian newspaper Extra has reported that influencer and law student Rayssa de Freitas in May 2022 filed a police report against Antony alleging she sustained injuries in an incident involving the player and another woman after a night out in Sao Paulo.
Meanwhile, banker Ingrid Lana has told Brazil’s RecordTV that in an incident at Antony’s home in Manchester in October 2022 he “pushed me against the wall, and I hit my head”.
Lana said that Antony “tried to have a relationship with me and I didn’t want to”, adding: “My purpose was just business. Arriving there, at his invitation, I realised that he had ulterior motives.”
United had no comment to make on those further allegations when contacted by the PA news agency on Friday.
Regarding the Cavallin accusations, the club had said in a statement: “Manchester United acknowledges the allegations made against Antony and notes that the police are conducting enquiries.
“Pending further information, the club will be making no further comments.
“As a club, we are taking this matter seriously, with consideration of the impact these allegations and subsequent reporting will have on survivors of abuse.”
United have not said whether Antony remains available for selection.
In an interview with Brazilian website UOL – which also published photographs and screenshots of messages between the pair – Cavallin claims she was attacked by Antony “with a headbutt” in a Manchester hotel room on January 15, leaving her with a cut head which needed treatment from a doctor.
Cavallin also alleges she was punched in the chest by Antony, which she claims caused damage to a silicone breast implant which required corrective surgery back in Brazil.
Another alleged incident is claimed to have taken place at a house on May 8, with Cavallin saying she suffered a cut finger while trying to protect herself, accusing Antony of throwing a glass cup towards her as well as then taking her passport.
Cavallin is said to have filed a report to Sao Paulo Civil Police concerning allegations of physical and verbal abuse by Antony while on holiday in Brazil during June 2022, when she was pregnant, as well as making a separate complaint to Greater Manchester Police.
Writing on Instagram earlier this week, Antony, who signed for United from Ajax in an £85.5million deal in September 2022, dismissed the claims as “false accusations”.
He wrote: “From the beginning I have treated this matter with seriousness and respect, providing the necessary clarifications before the police authority.
“However, I can calmly state that the accusations are false and that the evidence already produced and the other evidence that will be produced demonstrate that I am innocent of the accusations made.
“My relationship with Gabriela was tumultuous, with verbal insults from both sides, but I never committed any physical aggression.
“Therefore, I come to vehemently deny the accusations made and inform you that I remain at the entire disposal of the Brazilian authorities to clarify whatever is necessary.
“I trust that the ongoing police investigations will demonstrate the truth about my innocence.”
The allegations against Antony come after United announced last month that Mason Greenwood would leave Old Trafford.
Greenwood was suspended by the club on January 30, 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.
The case, where the forward faced charges including attempted rape and assault, was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service in February and he has since joined Spanish side Getafe on loan.
All eyes will be on Tahiyra when the brilliant filly returns to action in the Coolmore America “Justify” Matron Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday.
Sensational when winning the Moyglare Stud Stakes 12 months ago, Dermot Weld’s charge was narrowly beaten by Mawj as a hot favourite for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May – but has since added to her Group One tally with victories in the Irish Guineas and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Having enjoyed a midsummer break, the daughter of Siyouni returns as one of the star attractions on the opening afternoon of the Irish Champions Festival and jockey Chris Hayes is hopeful she can pick up where she left off.
“I’m looking forward to it, we haven’t seen her since Royal Ascot so I’d be looking forward to her lining up,” he said.
“Hopefully the ground will be nice and I suppose we’ve an adequate draw – she’s drawn fairly low (stall four of 13). I haven’t gone through it in great detail yet but I presume with that amount of runners there should be a decent level of pace, so fingers crossed.
“She just finds everything so easy – she finds going fast easy, she finds going slow easy and there are no issues or anything with her.
“In a race, no matter what pace they’re going, it feels like slow motion when you’re sitting on her, so hopefully that will be the same on Saturday.”
While Hayes feels Tahiyra has improved physically, he admits she is unlikely to be at peak fitness ahead of her first competitive outing in nearly three months.
He added: “I’ve sat on her plenty and she has strengthened up quite well – she’s a stronger filly than she was earlier in the year.
“She hasn’t run in a while so she’ll obviously come and improve as her autumn campaign progresses, but she’s definitely ready to start and put her best foot forward, so hopefully we can get the right result and go forward from there.”
One of the biggest dangers to Tahiyra is her older stablemate Homeless Songs, aboard whom Hayes won last year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas.
The Frankel filly has not been seen in competitive action since pushing Buckaroo close in the Heritage Stakes at Leopardstown in early April, but Hayes is nevertheless wary of the threat she poses in the hands of Oisin Murphy.
He said: “She hasn’t run in a long time, but she ran Buckaroo quite close in Leopardstown and she’s in good shape and looks well.
“She’s drawn right beside Tahiyra, so tactically it will be interesting, but my filly is quite versatile and Homeless Songs is quite versatile.
“We both like to come off a fast pace and I’d imagine with a bit of luck in running the two fillies should definitely represent the boss and ourselves well.”
Homeless Songs is one of two runners declared for owners Moyglare Stud Farm along with the Paddy Twomey-trained Just Beautiful, who notched her first win since being bought out of Ivan Furtado’s yard two years ago in the Group Two Lanwades Stud Stakes at the Curragh in May.
“Homeless Songs is in good shape, she might be a week or two short and if Leopardstown don’t water and it stays as hot and sunny as this and the ground is fast she probably won’t run, but she’s declared and we’ll just see,” said Moyglare’s Fiona Craig.
“Just Beautiful loves fast ground. She got a splint after we bought her and it’s taken a while to get her right, but her last run was her first run on fast ground for us and she did it well.
“She will suit Leopardstown and Paddy has been training her for this for quite a long time.
“Obviously, Tahiyra gets 5lb from both of ours, but at the end of the day, if you’re not in you can’t win, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Aidan O’Brien fits Meditate with blinkers for the first time, while three-time course winner Zarinsk must be respected for trainer Ger Lyons.
British raiders Rogue Millennium (Tom Clover), Olivia Maralda (Roger Varian) and Prosperous Voyage (Ralph Beckett) add further spice to the one-mile contest.
Alex Mitchell is ready to continue riding his World Cup rollercoaster after being entrusted with the scrum-half duties for England’s critical opener against Argentina.
Mitchell starts Saturday’s showdown at the Stade Velodrome despite being overlooked for Steve Borthwick’s 41-man training squad named in late June, an omission that enabled him to take a week’s holiday in Hvar in Croatia.
But the stars aligned for England’s most dangerous running nine when Jack van Poortvliet went down with a tournament-ending ankle injury against Wales at Twickenham last month.
Van Poortvliet’s misfortune offered his route back into the squad and when asked to start against Fiji, Mitchell seized the opportunity by emerging as one of the few bright sparks on an otherwise gloomy afternoon.
The 26-year-old now starts England’s biggest game since the 2019 World Cup final ahead of veterans Danny Care and Ben Youngs with the aim of bringing a misfiring attack to life.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster – out of the squad, then back in and now getting a shot against Argentina,” Mitchell said.
“I stayed fit and stayed ready and then got called to come in. I trained hard and tried to put my hand up again.
“I had one week off in Croatia, which was nice, just to reset the batteries. That was a couple of months ago now, so it was nice to get away and relax.
“I’m massively excited to be getting an opportunity to play and putting my hand up. It’s all been a bit weird but I’m excited.
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“As a kid it’s a thing you dream of, playing at the top of the game, and the World Cup is that.
“To start the first World Cup game is a massive honour – my family are massively proud of me. I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we can get a result.”
Mitchell was a regular fixture in England training squads under Eddie Jones before being used as a dynamic replacement by Borthwick during the recent Six Nations, so it came as a shock when he was deemed surplus to requirements for the World Cup.
The Saints half-back had to wait until the Fiji match a fortnight ago to make his first start in six caps as his patience finally paid off.
“You appreciate you’re in a really good position. You’re still getting paid to play the sport you love and you are not far off,” he said.
“The whole time you’re not far off, you’re in and out of camp so you’re getting opportunities. You have just got to keep your head up and that’s what I focused on.”
Mitchell’s elevation to a central role in the main event of Pool D has come at a difficult time for England, who are reeling from five defeats in six Tests.
“I’ve got to try and control the game, get the team to tick and when I can imprint some tempo into the side. I’ll try and do that, but stick to the game-plan,” he said.
“We know we’re a good side when we play well and stick to our style of play. The main thing is to do that and try to bring our X-Factor alive after that, if you can.”
Darcy Graham has been passed fit to start Scotland’s Rugby World Cup opener against South Africa on Sunday after his pre-tournament injury scare.
The 26-year-old Edinburgh wing – seventh on the national team’s all-time scoring list – missed the last warm-up match with a quad strain but, after coming through training in Nice this week, he has now been cleared to play.
Prop Zander Fagerson is also back in the team after being suspended for the last two summer Tests following his red card in the victory at home to France five weeks ago. The Glasgow front-rower goes into the match having played less than an hour of rugby since the end of last season.
In a selection featuring no real surprises, Jack Dempsey has got the nod over Matt Fagerson to start at eight, with the latter on the bench. Captain Jamie Ritchie and the burgeoning Rory Darge complete the back row, with the experienced Hamish Watson missing out on the 23.
The Scots have gone for a five-to-three split on the bench, with Ali Price, Cam Redpath and Ollie Smith the three backs selected, meaning there is no place in the squad for in-form wing Kyle Steyn.
In a notable development, Stuart McInally – who was cut from the squad at the end of last month – has travelled to France as injury cover for Ewan Ashman, who is recovering from an injury picked up in training this week which ruled him out of the match against South Africa.
McInally, who had already announced his intention to retire from rugby after the World Cup, has not joined the 33-player squad. Dave Cherry is the replacement hooker this weekend.
Assistant coach Mike Catt categorically denied Mack Hansen’s shock omission for Ireland’s Rugby World Cup opener against Romania is down to an internal disciplinary issue.
Australia-born wing Hansen has been among Ireland’s standout players amid their current 13-match winning run but was the only first-team regular left out of Saturday’s Pool B clash in Bordeaux.
Head coach Andy Farrell confirmed the 25-year-old is not injured when announcing his team on Thursday.
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The Englishman then volunteered information about some members of his squad succumbing to off-field distractions when the team were based in Biarritz for their final warm-up game against Samoa in nearby Bayonne.
“The reason we went there is that there’s a lot of distraction that goes on, certainly when you’re in a hotel that’s on the beach,” Farrell said in answering a routine question about newer members of his squad not having World Cup baggage.
“Some people handled that brilliantly, some people didn’t.”
Farrell’s cryptic admission fuelled speculation in the wake of Hansen’s surprise non-selection.
Yet Catt insisted the Connacht player has not breached team rules.
“Good question really, it’s a long tournament first and foremost and it’s making sure that we look after everybody,” Catt replied when asked why Hansen has been left out.
“In the same breath there is good competition in that area too. There is nothing that Mack has done wrong. It’s not that he’s performed badly at all.
“He’s done exceptionally well in his pre-season games and like we say, it’s a long competition and we need to keep people fresh too.”
Ireland’s strong selection is missing just three of arguably Farrell’s preferred starting XV: injured hooker Dan Sheehan, flanker Josh van der Flier, who is on the bench, and Hansen.
Hansen, who recently had Farrell’s face tattooed on his leg as part of a pact with captain Johnny Sexton, has only sat out three Test matches since his debut in the 2022 Six Nations.
One of those fixtures was the first Test against New Zealand last year when he had Covid-19, while another was last month’s warm-up match with Italy, when most of Ireland’s star names were given the weekend off.
Questioned directly on whether the selection decision was due to a disciplinary matter, Catt replied: “Not at all, no.”
Centre Bundee Aki, who was sitting next to Catt, joked that Hansen’s absence was performance-related, saying: “He was useless.”
City Of Troy and Bucanero Fuerte will clash for the first time at the Curragh on Sunday in the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes.
Six have been declared and Aidan O’Brien will bid to return to the roll of honour for the first time in the Group One event since 2016 with his promising son of Justify, who made it two from two with real authority in the Superlative Stakes.
He is already the ante-post market leader for next year’s 2000 Guineas and Derby, but faces his toughest opponent to date in the form of Adrian Murray’s Bucanero Fuerte.
The Wootton Bassett colt already has a Group One victory to his name and connections are relishing a highly-anticipated head-to-head.
“The team at Adrian’s are delighted with him, Robson (Aguiar) rides him on a regular basis and is delighted with him. He hasn’t missed a beat since the Phoenix Stakes,” said Tom Pennington, racing and operations manager for owners Amo Racing.
“He’s run four times and has the experience and is battle-hardened. He’s always had a touch of class from day one, but he can be a streetfighter.
“I know it’s 10-1 bar the two, but it’s no match race and there are a couple of others to be wary of despite City Of Troy looking the one to beat.”
O’Brien has also left in his unbeaten Henry Longfellow.
It promises to be a big afternoon for the master of Ballydoyle who has leading chances across the card and sees the return of his staying star Kyprios in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
The five-year-old carried all before him on the long-distance scene last season before injury has seen him sidelined for most of the current campaign and he will face off against four rivals that include Eldar Eldarov.
O’Brien will also saddle the unbeaten Ylang Ylang in a field of nine for the Moyglare Stud Stakes.
Ante-post favourite for the next year’s 1000 Guineas, she gets her first shot at Group One glory with the pick of her opposition appearing Donnacha O’Brien’s Royal Ascot scorer Porta Fortuna and Willie McCreery’s
Vespertilio.
Highfield Princess is the headline act in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes as John Quinn’s sprinting star faces nine rivals when defending her crown.
The six-year-old brought up a Group One hat-trick when a convincing winner of the race 12 months ago and although victories have been less common this term, she has continued to feature at the business end of all the major sprinting events.
She will go toe-to-toe once again with Royal Ascot conqueror Bradsell, with Archie Watson’s charge having three-quarters of a length to find from the duo’s most recent meeting in the Nunthorpe, while others of note include track specialist Art Power (Tim Easterby) and French raider Bouttemont (Yann Barberot).
Michael O’Neill admitted Northern Ireland’s Euro 2024 hopes are over after Thursday’s 4-2 qualifying defeat to Slovenia left them adrift towards the bottom of Group H.
A fourth straight defeat left a six-point gap between Sunday’s opponents Kazakhstan in fourth place and Northern Ireland in fifth, with nine points separating them from leaders Finland.
Although not mathematically over, both the size of the deficit and the number of teams involved make it difficult to see a path to qualification.
“We’ve just got to finish as high as possible,” O’Neill said. “Qualification now, I think if we won all five games (remaining) it wouldn’t be enough. I’m not going to sit here and say ‘While it’s mathematically possible…’ and things like that.
“We’re trying to develop a team here. It’s a young team, a team that’s ravaged by injuries. Our chance in this group probably was to get momentum in the early part and we didn’t do that unfortunately.
“Now we’ve got to make sure we finish the group strong and so we can carry that forward for the preparations for the next tournament.”
Northern Ireland played positively, enjoying more possession and more chances than Slovenia, but left the door open at the back for Andraz Sporar and Benjamin Sesko to exploit.
“I thought Trai Hume, Shea Charles were excellent, Isaac Price getting his first goal, they’re all real positives,” O’Neill said. “That’s three young players who could all have played for the under-21s. Some of the senior boys put in a good performance as well – George Saville had a very good game as well.
“We will look at the game and some of things we did that were poor in the game but we’ll focus as well on a lot of things we did well and we’ll be ready to give it a go again on Sunday night.”
Northern Ireland’s injury headache got worse, with Ciaron Brown forced off after being hurt in the build-up to Slovenia’s second goal before his replacement, Craig Cathcart, hobbled off late on.
“Ciaron will be an extreme doubt (for Sunday), he’s twisted his ankle which led to the second goal, a deflected goal, so there was a little bit of misfortune for us there on a couple of counts,” O’Neill said.
“Craig, his groin was tight so we’ll see how he reacts. We’ve got a long flight to Astana to deal with and we’ll just have to assess the players probably before we go.”
Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign has been all downhill since the opening win over San Marino in March, with the relentless run of injuries depriving O’Neill of some of his most effective dressing room leaders.
Asked how he could pick his side up after this latest setback, O’Neill said: “I don’t think that will be difficult. There’s a sense of realism in the dressing room about where we are as a group at the minute.
“I think the bigger concern is if you going into the games feeling you’re inferior to the opposition. We don’t feel that in this group. The results have been disappointing for us obviously. It’s been well documented about the players that are unavailable to us.
“I think this group of players will be clearly a lot better of the experience of what they’re dealing with at the minute. For the younger ones in particular playing two games in the space of three days, both away from home, for many of them it’s their first experience of that.
“That’s the nature of international football and trying to qualify. We feel we due more points than the points that we have but we have to accept where we are at this minute in time and make sure that we finish as strongly as we can in the group.”
Coco Gauff reached her first US Open final but her achievement was overshadowed by environmental protesters who forced her last-four match against Karolina Muchova to be suspended for more than 45 minutes.
Aryna Sabalenka then denied the New York crowd an all-American final by beating Madison Keys in a third-set tie-break.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at day 11 at the US Open.
Pic of the dayMatch of the day
Once the protest ended and a tennis match broke out again, Gauff completed a 6-4 7-5 victory. It was not a classic until the last four games of the second set, which were as dramatic as we have seen all fortnight.
Shot of the dayHeatstroke, not groundstroke
Once again the temperature at Flushing Meadows hit 35C, with the humidity making it feel even hotter. French doubles player Nicolas Mahut had to briefly stop playing as he felt dizzy and Rajeev Ram had to snack on some sushi mid-match.
Quote of the dayBrit watch
Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram are back in the final after beating Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in three sets.
Salisbury and Ram are looking for an unprecedented third consecutive men’s doubles crown at Flushing Meadows.
Their 7-5 3-6 6-3 win, in two-and-a-quarter hours, was a 17th successive victory in New York for the pair, who face India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden in Friday’s final.
There was disappointment for rising British star Hannah Klugman in the juniors event.
The 14-year-old needed a medical time-out after the first set in her quarter-final against Laura Samsonova and eventually retired injured at 6-0 3-0 down.
There were wins in the wheelchair singles for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, but Lucy Shuker won only two games against 11th seed Diede De Groot of the Netherlands.
Fallen seeds
Karolina Muchova (10), Madison Keys (17)
Who’s up next?
The men’s semi-finals begin with Novak Djokovic, chasing a 24th grand slam title, taking on big-serving 20-year-old American Ben Shelton.
Then, in the night session, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, also 20, faces third seed Daniil Medvedev.
Salisbury and Ram’s final kicks off the action at midday (5pm UK time).
Coco Gauff reached her first US Open final but her achievement was overshadowed by environmental protesters who forced her last-four match against Karolina Muchova to be suspended for more than 45 minutes.
Aryna Sabalenka then denied the New York crowd an all-American final by beating Madison Keys in a third-set tie-break.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at day 11 at the US Open.
Pic of the day
Match of the day
Once the protest ended and a tennis match broke out again, Gauff completed a 6-4 7-5 victory. It was not a classic until the last four games of the second set, which were as dramatic as we have seen all fortnight.
Shot of the day
Heatstroke, not groundstroke
Once again the temperature at Flushing Meadows hit 35C, with the humidity making it feel even hotter. French doubles player Nicolas Mahut had to briefly stop playing as he felt dizzy and Rajeev Ram had to snack on some sushi mid-match.
Quote of the day
Brit watch
Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram are back in the final after beating Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in three sets.
Salisbury and Ram are looking for an unprecedented third consecutive men’s doubles crown at Flushing Meadows.
Their 7-5 3-6 6-3 win, in two-and-a-quarter hours, was a 17th successive victory in New York for the pair, who face India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden in Friday’s final.
There was disappointment for rising British star Hannah Klugman in the juniors event.
The 14-year-old needed a medical time-out after the first set in her quarter-final against Laura Samsonova and eventually retired injured at 6-0 3-0 down.
There were wins in the wheelchair singles for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, but Lucy Shuker won only two games against 11th seed Diede De Groot of the Netherlands.
Fallen seeds
Karolina Muchova (10), Madison Keys (17)
Who’s up next?
The men’s semi-finals begin with Novak Djokovic, chasing a 24th grand slam title, taking on big-serving 20-year-old American Ben Shelton.
Then, in the night session, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, also 20, faces third seed Daniil Medvedev.
Salisbury and Ram’s final kicks off the action at midday (5pm UK time).
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