Military could be set for bigger and better things having made a winning debut at Naas on Thursday.

Aidan O’Brien’s son of Siyouni cost 375,000 guineas as a yearling and although making a belated racecourse bow, holds plenty of entries for high-class events later this autumn.

Sent off 2-7 favourite for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF (C & G) Maiden, Military went some way to booking his ticket for those contests with an impressive display in the hands of Dylan Browne McMonagle.

Having travelled through the race like a classy operator, he overcame greenness a furlong from home, before kicking the best part of three lengths clear of his nearest pursuer in the closing stages.

O’Brien is now considering an immediate step up in class for the colt’s next outing, with Newmarket’s Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes (September 30) and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp on Arc day (October 1) both on the radar.

He said: “He was working like a lovely colt. We knew that was probably plenty short for him but it was to get him out and get him started. He will come forward lovely from that.

“You’d be very happy with him. He could maybe go to the Middle Park or the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

“We knew he was a six or seven-furlong type horse and he will be probably be a miler next year. We just needed to get him started.

“Dylan said he was very green but he would have learned a lot there today.”

However, there was disappointment for the Ballydoyle stable later on the card when the highly-touted Gallantly could finish only seventh as the 8-11 favourite in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.

The seven-furlong contest was won by Jessica Harrington’s Bluedrum (6-1), who ran out a cosy two-and-a-half-length victor.

Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from September 14.

Nat Sciver-Brunt made history for England.

England stars are in the running for top FIFA awards.

Kyle Walker commits to Man City.

Georginio Wijnaldum enjoyed his welcome.

Happy birthdays.

Rafael Nadal was working hard.

A post shared by Rafa Nadal (@rafaelnadal)

Broad a runner for Ryder?

KP was impressed.

Ludvig Aberg underlined his Ryder Cup credentials at Wentworth.

A post shared by DP World Tour (@dpworldtour)

Caddy Billy Foster remembered one of the game’s greats.

A post shared by Billy Foster (@billy66foz)

Ronnie O’Sullivan was grateful.

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker is targeting more trophies after signing a new contract with the treble winners just a couple of months after almost leaving for Bayern Munich.

The 33-year-old, who had a spell out of favour last spring and was left out of the starting line-up for the Champions League final in June, has agreed a two-year extension.

Walker had entered the final year of his existing deal when the Bundesliga champions came along with an attractive package but the England international ultimately decided to stay put.

“I’m thrilled to sign a new deal. My future is with Manchester City and that is the best thing for me,” said Walker, who has won 15 trophies with the club.

“I’ve enjoyed every single moment of the past six years at this fantastic club.

“The treble-winning season is one I will never forget and we’re ready to go again and try to win more trophies.

“We’ve got to demand that. We’ve set the bar and each year it’s how do you get better? How do we get better? We seem to be doing that each year.

“We’ve probably gone to the top of the top where there is only down because are we going to go and win a treble again? Who knows? You know, we could do.

“The odds say that we’re not going to, but we need to make sure that we’re there competing in the later stages in all competitions and fighting for the silverware.

“But I think one thing that we’ve done really well here is we take one game at a time. We don’t plan for the future. We plan for the present and the present starts on Saturday against West Ham.

“I am delighted to continue at a club that competes for trophies every year and I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring.”

Director of football Txiki Begiristain hailed a player he classed as the best right-back in the world.

“He is an outstanding footballer and his speed, strength and experience make him such an important member of our squad,” he said.

“For me, he is the best right-back in the world, a player with a unique set of attributes. He brings a very special dynamic to our team.

“Kyle has been a huge part of our recent success, and we are confident that he will help us compete for trophies in the upcoming seasons.”

Chris Woakes says Ben Stokes’ record-breaking 182 gave England a timely reminder of what they can achieve with his “superhuman” skills.

Stokes was in rampant form against New Zealand on Wednesday, making the country’s highest ever ODI score in just his third innings since reversing his year-long retirement from the format.

With England’s World Cup defence less than three weeks away it was a perfect way for the man who carried them to victory in the 2019 final to prove his sense of occasion once again.

Stokes has nothing left to prove on the big stage but watching him bully England’s first World Cup opponents with nine sixes and 15 fours sent a wave of energy through the dressing room.

England went on to wrap up victory by a huge margin of 181 runs, another reminder that when he is in the side, the whole team walks a little taller.

“We obviously see Ben as this superhuman that can do incredible things. We know he can,” said Woakes, who picked up the baton with three early wickets in the field.

“It was great for the group and brilliant for Ben too. He’s an unbelievable cricketer but coming back into the team having retired, it will do his confidence a world of good.

“We always have doubts and performance anxieties at the best of times, so it’s great for his confidence and great for the team’s confidence and belief that we can post huge scores.

“It was amazing to be here and play in the game because that was an incredible knock.

“He struck it cleaner than anyone else out there. It just shows how good a player he is.”

Since walking away from 50-over cricket last summer citing workload issues, Stokes has poured his energies into his role as Test captain.

Working closely with head coach Brendon McCullum, he has revitalised the red-ball set-up, flipping their fortunes in dramatic fashion and playing out a thrilling drawn Ashes series that gripped the nation.

Woakes feels that stepping back into the ranks under Jos Buttler’s leadership, and operating as a specialist batter rather than all-action all-rounder, is a good thing for Stokes.

“I think him coming back into this team is probably a refreshing feeling for him, without the captaincy on his shoulders. To run the England Test team is a tough job,” he said.

“He’s probably seen this as a breath of fresh air, to play his natural game and be his natural person, which he always does.

“This group of players who have been around this team for a long time, always feel comfortable when we come back together.”

England’s World Cup squad has one more game together before departing for India, wrapping up their clash with the Black Caps at Lord’s on Friday.

There is hope that Jason Roy and Mark Wood will be fit for selection, with both sidelined for each of the last three matches. Roy has been laid low twice by back spasms and Wood has been kept in cotton well since ending the Ashes with a heel problem.

Roy, in particular, will be eager to feel bat on ball. Dawid Malan made 96 at opener on Wednesday to position himself as a viable alternative and Harry Brook continues to linger as a possible replacement should Roy’s fitness continue to raise questions.

“I think he’s hopeful. This close to a World Cup it’s a bit of a risk to throw him into a game when you’re unsure as to how he’s going to go,” said Woakes.

“Fingers crossed he’s alright. I’m sure he’s desperate to get out there and I’m sure he’s frustrated as well.

“Pre-World Cup you want to get a bit of form behind you and play as many games as possible but he’s a resilient character; the lads have got around him and I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Stand-in captain Nat Sciver-Brunt marked a landmark appearance with the quickest women’s one-day international century by an England batter against Sri Lanka at Grace Road.

On her 100th ODI, Sciver-Brunt led England in the absence of ill Heather Knight and thrashed a 66-ball hundred, beating the record held by Charlotte Edwards off 70 deliveries against New Zealand in 2012.

Her record might have lasted only a few minutes but Maia Bouchier, unbeaten on 95 off 64 balls at the time Sciver-Brunt reached three figures, fell lbw when a six would have seen her set a new benchmark.

The pair put on a boundary-laden 193 in 121 balls to lift England to a mammoth 273 for eight in a contest reduced to 31 overs per side because of a rain delay that pushed back the start time more than three hours.

In the final match of their summer programme, England, leading 1-0, slipped to 18 for two in the fifth over but it was one-way traffic from then on as Bouchier and Sciver-Brunt starred.

Sri Lanka’s coterie of spinners came in for sustained punishment as Sciver-Brunt, who eventually holed out for 120 off 74 balls, and Bouchier, in just her second ODI innings, routinely took them on.

England got off to a false start as Tammy Beaumont, having been put down at midwicket in the previous over, edged a wild heave to slip while a flat-footed Alice Capsey was undone when left-arm seamer Udeshika Prabodhani nipped through her defences.

However, Bouchier, who had already expertly timed Prabodhani over the leg-side fence, then unfurled two glorious drives for four to ignite England’s charge, with the end of the six-over powerplay and introduction of the spinners working to their advantage.

Sciver-Brunt’s ability to stay back in her crease but pierce the off-field gaps was frequently exploited while she brought up England’s 50 with a whip off Inoka Ranaweera for four before shimmying down to the slow armer and elegantly driving for six.

Chamari Athapaththu frequently rotated her slow bowlers but they erred in line and length too often with no one able to stymie either Sciver-Brunt or Bouchier, who bludgeoned a free hit off seamer Hansima Karunaratne’s only over for six.

England’s 100 was brought up in the 13th over but, after thumping Oshadi Ranasinghe for three successive fours, Bouchier overbalanced and should have been stumped on 55 but Anushka Sanjeewani was unable to gather cleanly.

Sciver-Brunt missed a pull on 96 off a delivery that skidded on and kept low from Prabodhani as Athapaththu belatedly brought back her quicker bowlers, but the deputy England skipper went to her 100 in the next over, nudging Kulasuriya off her pads for a single.

Bouchier missed a hoick across the line and was given lbw, wisely electing against a review, but later in the over, Sciver-Brunt took three consecutive fours off Dilhari.

Sciver-Brunt slammed Ranaweera to long-off with 5.1 overs still left, with England losing five wickets for 40 at the end of their innings, although they were still able to get to a formidable total.

Auguste Rodin is likely to head straight for the Breeders’ Cup after his impressive return to form in the Irish Champion Stakes.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt put a disappointing King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes run behind him when sent off the 11-4 favourite at Leopardstown under Ryan Moore last Saturday.

The English and Irish Derby winner showed his ability in a quality field to come home half a length ahead of stablemate Luxembourg.

The Breeders’ Cup now beckons at Santa Anita in early November, with the Deep Impact colt likely to set sail for America without another run.

“He’s very good. I was speaking to the boss on the way up and it’s very possible he’ll go straight to America,” O’Brien said.

“He came out of it great and I couldn’t have been happier with him.

“He loves pace and follows pace very easy. When he gets there he doesn’t do much, but that’s the way he’s always been.

“All he wants is a good pace on in front of him and in America you usually get that on fast ground.”

O’Brien was also pleased to see Kyprios return to action on Sunday at the Curragh, where the chestnut returned from nearly a year off the track to finish second in the Irish St Leger.

It was a heartening effort after such a long absence and Champions Day at Ascot in late October is now under consideration for the top-class stayer.

“He came out of the race very good and I’m very happy with him, I’m delighted with him really,” added O’Brien.

“He came out of it brilliant and he’s nearly moving better now than he was before the race, even though we were very happy with his action. He’s definitely gone the right way.

“You’d probably think about Ascot now because you’d give him time to go back, Arc weekend may be too quick.

“At least he could be there now for next year, which is great.”

Johnny Sexton believes none of his team-mates will care if he surpasses Ronan O’Gara as Ireland’s record points holder during Saturday’s clash with Tonga.

Captain Sexton is on the cusp of making history for the second successive weekend after becoming his country’s oldest international and leading World Cup points scorer in last weekend’s 82-8 thrashing of Romania.

The 38-year-old returned from an absence of almost six months to score two tries as part of an impressive 24-point haul in Bordeaux.

While he will start again in Nantes after Andy Farrell opted to go with a strong XV featuring just four personnel changes, his performance will not be influenced by chasing further personal glory.

“It’s not something that comes into my head too often,” said Sexton, who is nine points behind O’Gara’s tally of 1,083.

“Obviously I was unaware how close I was after the game last week until I came into the press conference and so now I’m getting reminded again.

“Look, it will be a very special moment individually but no one else will really care. I won’t be making decisions off the back of it.

“I want to win the game, I want to progress further in the competition and that is the only thing going through my head at the moment.”

Ireland take on the team ranked 15th in the world at Stade de la Beaujoire ahead of pivotal Paris appointments against South Africa and Scotland.

Head coach Farrell has resisted temptation for serious rotation before the showdown with the Springboks as he wishes to build momentum and not underestimate Tonga.

Hooker Ronan Kelleher, world player of the year Josh van der Flier, scrum-half Conor Murray and wing Mack Hansen have been restored.

Farrell admits “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t” in regard to possibly making wholesale changes.

“A bit of continuity from last week, it’s a different game, a different challenge,” the Englishman said of the Pool B encounter.

“Respecting the opposition is absolutely at the forefront of our minds, respecting the competition but more so respecting ourselves.

“That side that played last week hadn’t played together before, we get to roll on to this one and you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t (make changes).

“The only thing that I care about is winning this weekend because the points that are on offer is exactly the same as what’s coming down the line.”

The 48-year-old also dismissed suggestions his selection was influenced by the 2019 World Cup, when Ireland suffered a shock pool-stage loss to hosts Japan after resting key players.

“Everyone keeps talking about four years ago but we’re a different team, different circumstances, it’s a different competition,” said Farrell, who was assistant to Joe Schmidt then.

“We move on. It’s never been talked about at all.”

Veteran fly-half Sexton, who will retire following the tournament, had no interest in potentially being protected with the reigning world champions in mind.

“I don’t have any say in selection,” he said.

“I just rock up to training and do my best. Obviously I want to play, I mean when you only have a certain amount of games left of course you want to play.

“But it’s what is right for the team, what is right for different individuals and that was probably all taken into consideration. But no, I didn’t have to do much talking (with Farrell).”

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson has backed Dante Polvara to become a “top player” after handing the American midfielder a new three-year contract.

The 23-year-old has made six appearances this season after forcing his way into Robson’s plans.

The New Yorker arrived at Pittodrie in January 2022 but his game time was limited and he returned to the United States in March 2023 to join USL Championship side Charleston Battery on loan.

Robson said: “Dante has got a real opportunity ahead of him here at the club.

“He’s got two great feet, he’s a good size and he is a real athlete due to his running power. These are all really strong attributes for a young player to have.

“He’s still got improvements to be made in his game but if he continues his positive development as he is then he can go on to become a top player.”

Polvara, who has made 17 Dons appearances in total, added: “The manager and the rest of the staff have voiced their belief in me since day one which made this an easy decision.

“I hope to help the team as much as possible and make those who have believed in me throughout this journey so far proud of my development as a player.”

Sumo Sam backed up her Goodwood stroll with a gutsy display in the Betfred Park Hill Fillies’ Stakes at Doncaster.

The three-year-old made virtually all as a 25-1 chance in the Lillie Langtry Stakes last month, thriving on very testing conditions to come home an eight-and-a-half-length winner.

The bookmakers made her the 4-1 joint-favourite on Town Moor and Rossa Ryan was not allowed anywhere near as much rope as Tom Marquand was permitted at Goodwood.

She did hold a three-length advantage turning into the straight but looked a sitting duck as eventual third Lmay and runner-up One Evening put down strong challenges.

They could not quite get by Sumo Sam, though, as she prevailed by a length and a half in the colours carried to victory by Snurge in the 1990 St Leger for the Paul Cole stable, who now shares his licence with his son, Oliver.

Betfair trimmed the winner to 10-1 from 16s for the Fillies & Mares race at Ascot on Champions Day.

Oliver Cole said: “She got a bit lonely out in front and then dug deep. She’s a very classy filly and very, very tough and very, very game.

“It was seriously impressive, wasn’t it? Two furlongs out you thought she might fall in a hole, but she was ultra-fit and in very good form and very fresh.

“That (soft) ground seems to be important to her. It’s not as soft as it was at Goodwood, but nothing much is.

“She’s potentially a Cup horse for the future. A couple of furlongs out you thought she was beaten and she pulled it out – it’s pretty incredible what she’s done. I’m taken aback really for words.”

Regarding the future, he added: “She could potentially (go to Ascot), or there’s the Prix de Royallieu in France. She’s entered in that and you normally get soft ground, so that’s a definite possibility.”

Jadon Sancho will train away from the Manchester United first-team squad for a period, the Premier League club have announced.

The development comes after the England international recently complained about his treatment in a social media post.

Sancho claimed he had been made a “scapegoat” after manager Erik ten Hag said he left him out of the squad for the game at Arsenal on September 3 because of poor performance in training.

United have confirmed the matter is now being treated as a disciplinary issue.

A statement from the club read: “Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training programme away from the first-team group, pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.”

Sancho had gone on the offensive in response to Ten Hag’s comments after United’s 3-1 defeat in the game at the Emirates Stadium.

Ten Hag said the 23-year-old had not been included because he had failed to reach the levels expected of him.

“Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him,” the Dutchman said. “You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices in the front line. So for this game he was not selected.”

Sancho responded later that day with an explosive statement on Twitter.

He wrote: “Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

“I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into, I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!”

The post has now been deleted but it remained visible for some days afterwards.

United, who have claimed six points from their opening four Premier League games this season, return to action after the international break as they host Brighton on Saturday.

Gregor Townsend expressed sympathy for Dave Cherry after the veteran hooker’s first World Cup was brought to a premature end following a fall down the stairs at Scotland’s team hotel.

It emerged on Thursday that the 32-year-old had withdrawn from the squad with concussion after he took a tumble and banged his head at the Scots’ tournament base near Nice on Monday while the players were enjoying some down time with their families.

The previous day, Cherry had played his first World Cup match as a second-half replacement for George Turner in the 18-3 defeat by world champions South Africa in Marseille.

The Edinburgh hooker flew out of France on Thursday to return home, where his fiancée Olivia is due to give birth in the coming weeks.

Stuart McInally – cut from the provisional training squad last month – has been drafted in as Cherry’s replacement.

“It’s very difficult for Dave, and it’s sad,” head coach Townsend said at a media briefing in Nice on Thursday.

“At least he got to play in a game. His wife’s just about to give birth so at least he’s got something positive to go back to. He did well to get himself into the World Cup squad and he did well at the weekend. He would have had more involvement as we went through the pool.”

Cherry’s misfortune has paved the way for a remarkable career swansong for McInally. The 33-year-old announced in April that he would be retiring from rugby after the World Cup to pursue a career as an airline pilot.

McInally was part of Townsend’s 41-man provisional training group for the tournament, but the head coach then omitted him when he named his final 33-man squad in August, seemingly ending the career of the man who captained the Scots at the last World Cup in Japan.

However, the long-serving Edinburgh forward was invited out to France last week to provide cover after hooker Ewan Ashman sustained a head knock in training and he attended Sunday’s match in Marseille before being told his services were no longer required and flying home on Monday.

McInally’s roller-coaster summer then took another twist when he was summoned back to the south of France on Wednesday.

“He’s been called out twice now,” said Townsend, reflecting on whirlwind period for the veteran.

“On Monday I was chatting to him back at the hotel and I said ‘you can stay until tomorrow or go back today, it looks like Ewan is on track to make a full recovery, so there’s no reason to stay’.

“And then he came back out two days later and he’s trained today. He’s obviously kept training, he’s been topping up (his fitness) and he’s always said he’d be ready for the opportunity. Maybe he would have been thinking that would have happened last week, but it’s now happened for him.

“Stuart is a very experienced player for us. He’s obviously been at World Cups before and had trained really well throughout the (pre-tournament) camp and had played well so we’re fortunate that we have someone with his experience and quality to step in.”

The Scots trained on Thursday for the first time Sunday’s bruising encounter with South Africa and Townsend was pleased to see Finn Russell come through the session after the talismanic stand-off took a couple of heavy hits against the Boks, one of which required lengthy on-field treatment.

George Horne and Ashman also took part after concussion ruled them out of contention for the opening game and the pair are on track to return to the fold for the next match against Tonga in Nice on Sunday week.

“Yes, Finn trained,” said Townsend. “There were two guys with red bibs on (George Horne and Ewan Ashman) today. It was a non-contact session although we did do a contact element.

“The two guys with red bibs on didn’t do that (contact element) but Finn wasn’t in a red bib which means he’s obviously able to do some sort of contact, which is a good recovery. He did the whole session.”

The only player who missed training on Thursday was back-rower Luke Crosbie, who was ruled out last weekend with a rib problem.

“Luke is on track, he’s just ill today,” reported the head coach. “He trained on Tuesday morning with the physios. He’s now fully available for selection, but overnight he had a stomach complaint so that’s why he wasn’t training today.

“The other two (Horne and Ashman) came through the session fine and their next stage is to add contact which will be tomorrow. Ali Price went off (the training pitch) as a precaution with a tight groin, but I don’t think it will be anything serious.”

The Scotland players had three days off following Sunday’s defeat by South Africa, with the players’ families invited into the camp.

Townsend is adamant there will be no hangover from their opening-weekend setback as they build towards the Tonga showdown.

“I don’t think morale was ever affected,” he said when asked if he felt the short break was beneficial to the players.

“We knew this would be an opportunity to spend time with families because our next games (after Tonga) are pretty much game then into six or seven-day turnarounds, so it will be quickly into that process.

“We saw the families all together in the hotel for the last two or three days and that was really good, but the mindset they came in to train with today was excellent.

“They worked really hard. That was a tough session, tomorrow’s will be tough again, and Sunday’s will be tough. We know we’ve got an opportunity now to push things a bit harder and then we get back into a normal Test week, which starts on Tuesday for us.”

Lewis Hamilton has called Red Bull chief Helmut Marko’s comments about Sergio Perez “completely unacceptable”.

Marko, 80, referred to Mexican Perez’s background when discussing his driver’s inconsistent form this season.

Speaking after the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month, Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport adviser and an ally of the team’s late co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, said: “Let’s remember that he (Perez) is South American and so he is not as focused as Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel was.”

Addressing Marko’s comments ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes’ Hamilton, 38, said: “It is completely unacceptable. This is not something you just apologise for and it is all OK.

“Whilst we say there is no room for any type of discrimination in this sport – and there should be no room for it – to have leaders and people in his position making comments like this is not good for us moving forward.

“There are a lot of people in the background that really are combating these kind of things, but it is hard to manoeuvre if people at the top have mindsets which stop us from progressing.

“But it is not my team and not how we move as a team. We still have a lot of work to do to make this a more inclusive environment.”

Perez and team-mate Verstappen shared two victories from the opening four races, but the latter is unbeaten since the fifth round in Miami.

Perez, 145 points behind Verstappen in the standings, said: “I had a private conversation with Helmut and he did apologise. To me, that was the main thing.

“Basically, we move on. I have a personal relationship with him. Knowing the person helps a lot, because I know he doesn’t mean it that way.

“Personally, I didn’t get offended.”

Karl Burke strengthened his grip on the juvenile fillies’ division when Darnation ran out a ready winner of the Betfred May Hill Stakes at Doncaster.

Fallen Angel had already stated her case to be the leading two-year-old filly when impressing in the Moyglare Stud Stakes in Ireland last weekend.

Now it appears one of her biggest rivals for top honours may be based in the same Leyburn yard in North Yorkshire after Darnation’s price for next year’s 1000 Guineas was halved from 20s to 10-1 by Coral.

Impressive in soft ground last time out in a Group Three at Goodwood, she had less questions to answer than most and when one of her market rivals, Ollie Sangster’s Romanova, got wound up going to post and ran keen in the early stages, there was one less to worry about.

See The Fire did follow Darnation through and looked a danger, but Clifford Lee was able to keep a bit up his sleeve and the 11-10 favourite bounded three lengths clear.

“They didn’t go quick and when I asked her, she quickened up really well for a few strides and then galloped on towards the line,” said Lee.

“She’s very good and I’d like to see her next year when she’s physically and mentally stronger.

“She handles that soft ground, she does stay very well and she does have a bit of boot about her as well, so we’ll see next year how we get on.”

Burke was not on track, but said: “She’s a classy filly, on that ground she’s very good. We’ll have to see how she is on quicker ground but she’s tough, she stays and she’s just very good.

“She’s not in the Fillies’ Mile but she is in the Prix Marcel Boussac. I haven’t spoken to the owners but she’d be more likely to get her ground in France.

“Who knows about next year? She’s not the biggest in the world, but she should strengthen up even if she doesn’t grow much and if she bumps into soft ground she could be anything.

“On fast ground Fallen Angel would be in front of her, but ground is the key to this filly.

“I was all set to come today but I had a busy morning and decided not to. They don’t run any faster for me being there!”