MICHAEL DALY HAS never lacked U21 football heroes to look up to.
Six years ago he was in Croke Park, watching Mountbellew-Moylough club mates Gary Sweeney and Joss Moore anchor the defence of a Galway team that swatted Cavan aside on All-Ireland final day.
Four years ago he was in the Gaelic Grounds and saw another batch of Galway U21 footballers carry off the spoils, conquering Cork on that occasion.
On Saturday in Tullamore, he gets a chance to sample that stage himself when Galway face Dublin.
“I was at both those finals, the one against Cavan and the one against Cork. You’d be looking up to the lads, particularly from the club on the 2011 team.
“As that final was in Croke Park, you’d always be aspiring to be there yourself on All-Ireland final day. It was more of a dream than anything but it’s good that it came true.”
The game carries added significance for Daly, captain of the Galway team aiming to create a slice of history as the last ever winners of the U21 grade before it’s transformed to an U20 competition next year.
Back in 2002, a Mountbellew-Moylough man was captain in Portlaoise when Galway ended a 30-year wait for an All-Ireland U21 title.
Daly has had the opportunity to solider alongside Joe Bergin at club level in recent seasons, contesting the 2015 Galway senior final together when they were felled by Corofin.
His admiration is clear for a player who was man-of-the-match in that U21 final against Dublin 15 years ago and is still toiling for the north Galway outfit.
Daly, Eoin Finnerty, Colm Mannion and Gerard Donoghue want to keep the club’s rich U21 tradition going.
“Joe was always a hero of all of ours. He’s still going at 35. I don’t know how he does it, he’s still playing club football. He was still winning the fitness tests last year.”
If his club have churned out a series of players to aspire to emulate, there’s been a guiding influence closer to home as well.
Daly was born as his father Val’s Galway career was coming to a halt. But he’s aware that he’s the son of one of Galway’s most celebrated players.
Val Daly didn’t get to lift Sam Maguire, coming closest in 1983 when they were denied by 12 Dublin players.
Five Connacht senior medals along with All-Star awards in 1987 and 1990, illustrate how he was to the fore in Galway’s efforts.
Coaching roles have followed since he hung up his boots. He did a stint as player-manager with Galway in 1997, was temporary manager of Roscommon in 2005 and last October was at the helm when Salthill-Knocknacarra lost a county senior final to Corofin.
And he’s been priming this group of Galway U21′s for a tilt at an All-Ireland.
“You’d have people coming up to you saying how good a footballer he was but he doesn’t say much about it himself,” smiles Daly.
“Ever since I was three or four, I’d some sort of a football in my hand. It was just probably natural that I took it up.
“Since U8 up, he’s been a trainer for me. He’s actually trainer of the Galway U21 team as well so it’s the same thing, I’m well used to him on the line.
“He’s a good person to give advice and when you’ve a bad day as well, he’s not too hard on you.”
This spring he’s followed in his father’s footsteps by making a mark at senior level. A league debut came in February against Cork and when Galway ended a 16-year barren spell in senior football outings at Croke Park recently, Daly was sprung from the bench and whipped over two points in the defeat of Kildare.
“It was my first time playing in Croke Park. I was chomping at the bit to get out there. It’s great to get the scores as well, it was just a good day out.
“It’s good to be playing matches every week. It’s what players want. It can be tough in January when you’ve the college, the U21 and the county senior. Maybe the change to U20 level might cut that out, so it might be a good thing.”
Getting to share a senior dressing-room with Michael Meehan this spring, back in harness after a few years ruined by a troublesome ankle, has been an instructive experience.
“We were kind of in awe of him when he came into the dressing-room, all the younger lads,” says Daly.
“He was our hero growing up. Even just watching him out there, he’s in a world of his own. His goal finishing and all that. We’re just trying to be more like him, every time we go out training.”
Meehan claimed two All-Ireland U21 medals with Galway, for the current crop securing silverware was their target in 2017 after fruitless minor campaigns.
“The first year I was minor, we lost to Mayo after extra-time,” recalls Daly.
“They went on to win the All-Ireland then and the second year minor we lost to Mayo again. We were probably unlucky, I got sent-off with like 20 minutes to go, we were four points up and we lost the game then.
“If we’d a bit more luck, we could have gone further in that competition. We were saying at the start of the year that we just wanted to get a bit of silverware because none of the older lads had even won a Connacht up to this.
“That U21 Connacht was our first medal with Galway, so it was a pretty big occasion for us. Dublin is another challenge now.”
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