LAST UPDATE | 7 Jul 2020
LEINSTER HAVE CONFIRMED that Barry Daly has retired from professional rugby at the age of 27.
The wing finished his time with the province this summer after two seasons that had been ruined by knee injuries.
Daly will now move to the US to study in Boston College.
Daly was the top try-scorer in the 2017/2018 season of the Pro14, dotting down 12 times in the competition in a superb campaign for his native province.
An Ireland U20 and Ireland 7s international, Daly was a latecomer to professional rugby having initially been overlooked for the academy system.
His consistently superb performances for UCD in the All-Ireland League led to Daly being offered a trial with Leinster at a time when he was working in accountancy with KPMG.
Daly earned a full senior contract in 2016 and made his senior in October of that year. He played 36 times for the province, scoring 19 tries in total. Daly trained with the Ireland squad in 2018, with Joe Schmidt publicly praising his form.
However, the last two seasons have been injury hit and Daly didn’t have a chance to make a single appearance in the 2019/20 campaign.
His departure from Leinster was confirmed recently and he has now announced his retirement. Daly will move to the US to study a Master’s degree in Business at Boston College.
“It was a combination of things, the knee, two years of injuries, I got the opportunity to study abroad,” Daly told Leinster’s official website. “I’ve got a scholarship to study in Boston for two years, I’m doing an MBA there.
“I didn’t really know for sure until towards the end of my injury rehab. I was coming back, looking to play and the whole pandemic was just kicking off then.
“Thankfully, Ella McCabe [of Rugby Players Ireland] had been on my case hard the last couple of years with all the injury time to prepare for after rugby and she put me on to this scholarship.
“I actually got that fairly shortly after the whole lockdown kicked off so that was pretty much the decision made for me. I wasn’t able to play for Leinster anymore and I’d gotten this incredible opportunity to go and study in Boston College.”
First published today at 14.10
