Latest news with #O'Brien
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
€1.2m high-grade home making waves in Myrtleville as prices heat up
IN the good ol' days, you didn't need to be a moneybags to live in the Fountainstown/Myrtleville/Fennells Bay nexus, but the times they are a changin'. House prices in the area were galvanised by the small matter of covid, when everyone wanted to live by the sea. Then, the exotically named Medjez-El-Bab started a trend, when it cruised past the €1m house price mark on the Coast Rd, the 'golden mile' that links these beach communities. On the ocean side of Coast Rd, Medjez caused quite a stir back in 2021, when it was floated on the market with a €1.8m price tag. Was the Coast Road getting ahead of itself? The market's response suggested not. Medjez, Coast Road Medjez sold in February 2022 for €1.794m, as close as makes no difference to the price for those in the big money league. Medjez still holds the record for most expensive home on the Coast Rd, but the Property Price Register shows it's now in good company. In 2023, a house called Sea La Vie, also on the ocean side of Coast Rd, sold for €1.2m. Two additional Coast Rd properties crop up on the register in the past two years as having sold for €1m plus. The onetime aura of affordability in these coastal communities is fast evaporating. Long gone are the days when Ford motor factory workers would build holiday homes from wooden shipping crates. Stand now on the golden sand of Myrtleville beach, or on the stones at Fountainstown, and look around you: You'll be gobsmacked by the sophistication and style of some of the homes. These days, it's all about knock, rebuild, and upgrade, or start from scratch. Two homes currently on the market that started from scratch in this South Cork coastal setting are the €1.3m Whistler, on Coast Rd, built by the O'Brien family, owners of the now-closed Bunnyconnellan bar and restaurant and the very much open The Lodge (formerly Pine Lodge); and Distant Waves, featured here. Distant Waves High on the hill above The Lodge, off the road that runs to Myrtleville Beach, Distant Waves has a price tag of €1.2m. While it's not on the Coast Rd, it is at a height that delivers a clear line of sight to the water, serving up dazzling ocean views. View from Distant Waves Very sensibly, its owners went big on picture windows on the seaward-facing side. Even more judiciously, they decided against internal walls on the same side, instead creating a great, big, open-plan living/dining/kitchen room, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a stunning coastal outlook. 'They had planned three separate rooms, but they opted, instead, for open plan and you can see why,' says selling agent Michael O'Donovan, of Savills. The sea — and all its busy maritime activity — is the reason why. You can drink it in from every downstairs, seaward-facing window across the bright and airy ground floor. It's a view to luxuriate in and no better place to do so than from this hillside home, where creature comforts are at a premium. Distant Waves was built by the current owners on a greenfield site in 2012 and money wasn't spared. You can see it in the monkey tails and swan's neck detail of the mahogany staircase. You can see it in the marble kitchen worktops and large island unit. You can see it in the deluxe bathroom fit-outs. You can see it in the upscale, curved patio area with glass balustrade, where you'll find a brick-built outdoor kitchen space, a pizza oven, and a built-in BBQ above a porcelain, tiled floor. As outdoor dining settings go, it's top tier. The sun is doing its bit on the day the Irish Examiner visits and, with the tropical trees and the view from the patio, you could be anywhere. All this rear outdoor entertainment area — which includes a water feature — is enclosed, secure for children and not overlooked. You can keep an eye on the smallies too in the lawn across the way. It's surrounded by perimeter fencing and hedging, with lots of room for swings and slides. A garage to the rear is so well finished that it looks ripe for conversion to additional accommodation, pending planning permission. It has several windows, including a semi-circular feature window on the gable end, and it's at first-fix stage, with plumbing and electrics. The upstairs is already floored and partitioned. The potential is there for separate accommodation or a home office/workshop/studio/gym. Distant Waves, up a steeply sloping driveway, behind electronic gates, is, as Mr O'Donovan says, 'in excellent decorative order' and comes with nicely landscaped front gardens. A room to the front of the house could be a snug or a playroom or a fourth bedroom, as it has no sea views. Upstairs, three bedrooms are all large doubles. The main is a suite and has double doors to a balcony and an en suite to die for. Two of the bedrooms have terrific sea views and picture windows to frame them. Mr O'Donovan says much consideration was given to the layout, and rooms least in use are at the side of the house with no sea view: eg, the downstairs guest loo and utility room, which are off the kitchen. At 2,500 sq ft, Distant Waves is a fine, roomy home, ideal for a family. It comes with a green-mortgage-friendly energy rating, (B2) helped along by underfloor heating. At €1.2m, Distant Waves is not cheap, but, as Mr O'Donovan points out, it's turnkey, so no additional time/cost are needed for upgrades. Its ready-to-go status will be a big attraction for families trading up at a time of unpredictable building costs. 'I think it will appeal to the local market, families living in Carrigaline and Crosshaven, who are looking to trade up, but it will also attract people relocating back to Cork. 'We are seeing a lot of that at the moment, the draw of the coast and the lifestyle that goes with it,' Mr O'Donovan says. How Whistler and Distant Waves fare will be of strong interest to local property owners as an indicator of what's achievable in a post-covid market. Signs are it's not stagnating. VERDICT: Expect bidding to get competitive
USA Today
3 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Recruiting insiders pick who they think 2026 star safety Joey O'Brien will commit to
Recruiting insiders pick who they think 2026 star safety Joey O'Brien will commit to The day has come to find out if Notre Dame football will be adding another elite prospect to its 2026 recruiting class, as Pennsylvania 4-star safety Joey O'Brien will make his commitment later today at 7:15 p.m. ET. The 6-foot, 3-inch and 185-pound star will be picking either Penn State, Oregon, Clemson or the Irish, and whoever wins out on his recruitment will be getting one of the nation's best. O'Brien is currently ranked as the No. 65 overall prospect in the cycle according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Many recruiting insiders have weighed in on who they believe O'Brien will pick, and starting off with 247Sports where there are two predictions, both having him selecting Notre Dame. It's not just Irish insiders making the pick, as Austin Hannon, a Tigers reporter, also picked the Irish on Wednesday. Over at On3, they also like the Irish's chances, as 91.4% of their predictions have the Blue and Gold winning out. Their data is gathered from insiders, social sentiment, historical data and more. Finally, looking at what Rivals thinks happens with O'Brien, they also like Notre Dame's chances, with every one of its FutureCast's going in favor of the Irish. At one point Richard O'Leary has picked the Nittany Lions, but changed his mind and switched over to the Irish. Just by looking at the major three recruiting outlets, it very much looks like Notre Dame will be landing a star safety in O'Brien later today.
Rhyl Journal
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Rhyl Journal
No weather worries for O'Brien as temperatures rise at Ascot
And the master of Ballydoyle also allayed any fears the equine athletes on show would find conditions unduly oppressive, despite the mercury rising. O'Brien said: 'Horses love heat, it's in their nature and when you are training horses they thrive in the heat and in the cold they don't always try, they don't like the cold weather. 'Heat is always an advantage for horses and as long as there is plenty of water at hand, you would prefer it to be warm – if you asked the horse what weather he would like, I would know what he would say. 'Ascot do an incredible job and we've had beautiful weather this week. I promise you, if you are training horses you would see the difference. When it's warm horses train better and get bigger and stronger, they eat better and drink better. When it's cold they put all their energy into keeping warm, so it's better it is warm any day.' Ascot's clerk of the course Chris Stickels underlined the amount of water that is readily available at the track. He said: 'We've got plenty of water available and there is over 3,000 litres in the unsaddling enclosures. 'We also ice the water and there is a 1,000-litre water bowser which sits on the finishing line of the jumps course and is able to be towed anywhere on the racecourse it is needed. 'There is also 800 litres at the winning line and pull-out area to be dished out by the dedicated team, who are not only there to top up the buckets but help out stable staff as required. 'We've got the misting fans and there are a lot of resources available. Horses get used to the heat and they do get acclimatised and it's worse if it suddenly gets hot, but the key thing is just to have a team on hand to keep on top of the resources.' Dr Sally Taylor, head of equine regulation, safety and welfare for the British Horseracing Authority, told ITV Racing: 'The most important thing to realise is horses are very able to acclimatise to hot weather. When horses sweat it is their primary mechanism of losing heat, as the sweat evaporates it takes with it the heat so that is what you see when a horse sweats at the start. 'When they finish racing we are able to mimic that process by applying cold water and creating a breeze. Ascot does a fantastic job, there is iced water available, horses are supervised by vets at all stages of their journey across the racecourse and they have state-of-the-art fans here to create a breeze.'
Rhyl Journal
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Charles Darwin lives up to his billing in Norfolk Stakes
A full-brother to a top-class two-year-old in Blackbeard, the imposing Aidan O'Brien-trained son of No Nay Never finished fourth on his Curragh debut but had since impressed with victories at Navan and Naas. Those who sent him off at odds of 8-13 will have had few concerns, with Charles Darwin soon bowling along in front under Ryan Moore, finding plenty once challenged and going away at the line to readily account for Wise Approach and Sandal's Song. 'He's lovely, Ryan always loved him and everyone always loved him at home,' said O'Brien. 'He's a big, powerful, strong horse. He really looks like a four-year-old racing against two-year-olds. 'I didn't know if Ryan was going to make the running or drop him in, but he decides that. He always thought he had loads left with the way he came on the bridle. 'He's very quick, a big and mature physical and everyone who rides him says he has a very good mind as well – he's very exciting. 'We were hoping he would get a lead as he never sees the front at home, he's very strong and very quick.' On the Ballydoyle pecking order regarding juveniles, O'Brien added: 'Albert Einstein is always just something like we've never seen before, the way he works. 'This horse is very fast – he's a sprinter, I don't know how far he's going to get, because he's very quick, and the horse the other day (Gstaad) looks like he's going to get seven, which means he could get a mile.' Paddy Power made Charles Darwin 4-1 to become the first two-year-old since Kingsgate Native in 2007 to win York's Nunthorpe Stakes later in the summer, with O'Brien suggesting connections would have to consider that event if the speedy colt continues to thrive over the minimum trip. 'It would obviously be possible as he's fast, he's big and he's mature,' said O'Brien. 'The lads will decide and it's obviously really early days to be talking about that yet, but it would be possible. 'He's obviously a Middle Park Stakes-type of horse and obviously there is the July meeting at Newmarket and Goodwood to come, so there's plenty of races to come.' Charlie Appleby was determined to take the positives from Wise Approach's run in second after he bounced back from defeat at York. Appleby said: 'We felt we were very much drawn on the wrong side, but the main thing about today was setting him up for the future and riding a very different race to what we saw at York. We wanted to drop him in and we didn't feel there was the strength there to carry us through the race if we rode him handy. 'We made the decision to drop in, ride a race and get him to finish and he's done all of that, so finishing second to a very high-class racehorse in Charles Darwin, you have to take plenty of positives. 'There's going to be a nice pot in this horse and I think although he's versatile enough for five or six furlongs, we can probably look for six now and ride a similar sort of race. With racing he's learning. 'I'm not sure where we go, we have Maximized teed-up for the July Stakes at Newmarket and his form is working out nicely after the Windsor Castle, but you can never have too many in them. There will be options and I'll move them around accordingly.' There was not to be a second Royal Ascot winner for US handler George Weaver, but connections can remain positive about the new Wathnan Racing acquisition who will now be targeted at the Breeders' Cup. Wathnan's US representative Case Clay said: 'George really knows what he is doing with these two-year-olds and his assistant Blair (Golen) has done a wonderful job since getting here. 'As you saw in the paddock beforehand he is a very straightforward horse and I'm very proud of his effort. There was a moment there I got very excited, but he was beaten by a very good colt and it was such a valiant effort in defeat. 'We will take him back to the US and we'll target the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and work backwards from that and try to get there.'
Glasgow Times
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Glasgow Times
No weather worries for O'Brien as temperatures rise at Ascot
And the master of Ballydoyle also allayed any fears the equine athletes on show would find conditions unduly oppressive, despite the mercury rising. O'Brien said: 'Horses love heat, it's in their nature and when you are training horses they thrive in the heat and in the cold they don't always try, they don't like the cold weather. A horse is washed down on the track at Ascot (David Davies/PA) 'Heat is always an advantage for horses and as long as there is plenty of water at hand, you would prefer it to be warm – if you asked the horse what weather he would like, I would know what he would say. 'Ascot do an incredible job and we've had beautiful weather this week. I promise you, if you are training horses you would see the difference. When it's warm horses train better and get bigger and stronger, they eat better and drink better. When it's cold they put all their energy into keeping warm, so it's better it is warm any day.' Ascot's clerk of the course Chris Stickels underlined the amount of water that is readily available at the track. He said: 'We've got plenty of water available and there is over 3,000 litres in the unsaddling enclosures. 'We also ice the water and there is a 1,000-litre water bowser which sits on the finishing line of the jumps course and is able to be towed anywhere on the racecourse it is needed. 'There is also 800 litres at the winning line and pull-out area to be dished out by the dedicated team, who are not only there to top up the buckets but help out stable staff as required. Ascot has cooling fans to hand for the equine stars (Adam Morgan/PA) 'We've got the misting fans and there are a lot of resources available. Horses get used to the heat and they do get acclimatised and it's worse if it suddenly gets hot, but the key thing is just to have a team on hand to keep on top of the resources.' Dr Sally Taylor, head of equine regulation, safety and welfare for the British Horseracing Authority, told ITV Racing: 'The most important thing to realise is horses are very able to acclimatise to hot weather. When horses sweat it is their primary mechanism of losing heat, as the sweat evaporates it takes with it the heat so that is what you see when a horse sweats at the start. 'When they finish racing we are able to mimic that process by applying cold water and creating a breeze. Ascot does a fantastic job, there is iced water available, horses are supervised by vets at all stages of their journey across the racecourse and they have state-of-the-art fans here to create a breeze.'
