THE TRAINING PITCH was tarmac and big enough for seven-a-side.
It was tucked behind a Chinese takeaway and car repair garage.
The smell in the air was a mixture of curry sauce and engine oil.
Jon Daly and the rest of his Cherry Orchard teammates loved it. The lights and the concrete walls surrounding it made it feel like their San Siro.
A few minutes up the road on The Lawns was their field of dreams in Ballyfermot.
“Everyone remembers their team,” Willo Flood says.
The winger was two years younger than Daly and would later become close as their careers took them to Manchester, Scotland, and the Ireland underage set ups.
“It was the same every weekend, ‘Jon Daly scores again and Keith Fahey runs the show again’. That’s what we would always hear about them,” Flood tells The 42 of those schoolboy football days.
There were two Jon Dalys at The Orchard.
The rising star in the late 1990s and his father, Jon Snr, a respected manager throughout the club and within youth football circles.
“Jon [Jnr] played for us from U17s through to U20,” Brian Kerr explains. “He was always sound, reliable and focused. His Da was a lovely bloke. A big smiley head on him and I used to meet him at lots of underage games. I couldn’t believe when we passed away so young.”
Jon Snr remained a sounding board for his son throughout his life before passing away in November 2013 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Ten years on, Daly is in charge of St Patrick’s Athletic for today’s FAI Cup final with Bohemians.
His influence at Richmond Park has been telling since getting the job, with Saints fans hailing his impact in song.
“Jon Daly’s men, Inchicore’s bouncing again.”
That tune will echo around what is now set to be a sold-out Aviva Stadium today.
Daly’s father will no doubt be in his thoughts as he leads his players out.
“Jon [Snr] was a big, friendly, lovely fella,” Flood enthuses. “He loved football and loved watching Dinty (Jon Jnr’s nickname) play. I’m sure he’s very proud of the footballer he became, and now a manager too.”
Being taught how to fly fish by his father in Dun Laoghaire were some of Daly’s happiest childhood memories.
By 15 he was ready to leave the family home in Clondalkin and there were no shortage of options. Whereas Fahey headed for Arsenal, Daly opted for Stockport County.
He broke into the first team within a year and after a few more would even have a lodger with him at his home on the outskirts of Manchester when Paddy McCarthy, one of Flood and Glenn Whelan’s teammates in City’s academy, and now first team coach for Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace, moved in.
The foursome were close and their careers would take them in different directions.
Whelan eventually established himself in the Premier League with Stoke City, becoming a seasoned Ireland international, while McCarthy became a fixture at the heart of the Palace defence.
Daly and Flood became teammates at Dundee United.
“All I had to do was flick it around my man and I’d know that big Dinty would be there for it,” the winger recalls.
By April 2010, Daly’s body had been through enough to make most call it quits. He suffered cruciate ligament damage in both knees as well as a broken ankle. He was still only 27.
By now, though, he was married to Linda, the woman he credits with keeping him in the frame of mine to save his playing career.
“He had that determination and professionalism in what he did,” Flood says. “As a player and a teammate, he was absolutely selfless. He was so respected.”
The summer of 2013 saw Daly leave Tannadice – where he was club captain – and answer a surprising SOS call from Ally McCoist.
Rangers’ financial issues saw them demoted to League One in Scotland, with the added significance of signing a Catholic from Dublin.
Daly received letters of abuse from Rangers fans and Irish people but his family could not have been prouder.
Jon Snr saw his son make his debut at Ibrox and also made sure to get hold of the last jersey Jon Jnr wore for the club before he passed away.
It was in Glasgow that Daly struck up a friendship with full back Richard Foster that has only strengthened as the years passed.
With Linda and their two daughters remaining in the family home 80 miles away in Dundee, Daly was offered the spare bed in Foster’s apartment whenever they played midweek games.
Over bottles of Corona or Budweiser they’d dissect the previous 90 minutes.
“Unfortunately for John I’d no Guinness pump,” Foster, now head of coaching at Motherwell, laughs.
“I wouldn’t class him as just someone I played with. He’s one of my good friends, one of the handful of guys I would call a friend. He’s honest and loyal and we would have been very protective of each other.
“He’d never get me to go fishing, though. Absolutely no chance. We play golf and the best thing I can say is that there are some rounds you play when it feels like it’s four hours of your life you will never get back. It never feels like that with Jon.”
Their wives are also close and the families have spent the last few Christmases together.
Daly’s family have stayed in Scotland since he returned to Ireland, first as Tim Clancy’s assistant at St Pat’s before taking over as caretaker and then getting the job permanently.
He has continued to commute but today they will all be together along with a group of close friends, among them Foster.
Jon Snr may be absent but his influence is still very clear.