THE QUESTION ALMOST feels too blindingly obvious to ask, but we put it to Shane Daly anyway on the off-chance he might throw back an unexpected name. He doesn’t. No prizes for guessing who Daly looked up to as a soccer-mad Manchester United supporting young fella growing up in Cork.
“Ah, well being from Cork Roy Keane was the man,” Daly replies. “I loved soccer. Even now when I watch the Premier League I’m kind of half-thinking I should be there, but there was absolutely no chance.”
The Munster player has never met the former United and Ireland captain, and admits he would probably “bottle it” if he did.
And while rugby has provided him with a living, the footballing skills he learned across his formative years continue to come in handy. There’s been countless times where Daly has used his feet to deal with a tricky ball in the Munster backfield, while his kicking game is another strong point. His wonderful solo try in Munster’s Champions Cup win over Stade Francais in December – where Daly twice chips over a defender on his way to scoring – will be a contender for try of the season.
Daly himself feels those years playing soccer and GAA helped him become the rugby player he is today.
“Look, I think it’s massive. My advice to any young fella would be to play as many sports as possible. It’s something that’s stood to me in a lot of areas.
“Defensively, I used to play as a defender in soccer and it’s a different sport, but it’s the same thing. You’re reading body language, you’re trying to see where they’re going next, you’re trying to get ahead of the game.
Sports all transfer in a way that you don’t even realise when you’re learning as a kid, but when you start to apply them as you’re older, you realise that you’ve actually worked on that your whole life and that’s why it’s working on the field for you.”
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With Gaelic football, the aerial skills have been the biggest help to his rugby career.
“If you play in the back three it’s definitely something that’ll assist you. Every sport has something to learn in it that applies to something else, and Gaelic football is a good one for that, especially for the aerial stuff.”
Now 28, Daly is an interesting point in his career. He’s long been established as a key man at provincial level – starting all 18 regular-season URC games for Munster last season – but the road to Test rugby remains as congested as ever.
Daly has been a key man for Munster in recent seasons. Steve Haag Sports / EJ Langner/INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / EJ Langner/INPHO / EJ Langner/INPHO
Today he starts at fullback for Ireland A against England A in Bristol [KO 1pm, live on RugbyPass TV], and like every single member of Mike Prendergast’s squad, he’s hoping the opportunity helps him push toward the senior squad.
A former Ireland U20 international, Daly was capped twice at Test level in 2020 and 2021. Since then, he’s been called into camps and featured in Emerging Ireland and Ireland A games, but the phone has gone cold over the last few seasons. Speaking to the media last week as the Ireland A group came together in Abbotstown, Daly’s excitement at being back in the mix was evident.
“I’ve been dying to get back here for a few years. I feel like since I started playing my best rugby I haven’t been in this building, so I’m really excited to show what I can do to the coaches and just even to get out on the pitch today I was buzzing to just show what I’ve learned over the last few years under coaches that I’ve been working with, Prendy, Leams, all the lads, Cossie, there’s been so many of them, but the way they want to play the game is very similar to here, whereas before when I came up I probably didn’t have that experience.
“So I feel like I’m a much better player overall, and I’m really hoping they see that as well.”
Daly played for Ireland A and Emerging Ireland in 2022. Steve Haag / INPHO
Steve Haag / INPHO / INPHO
What Daly sees as his best years have coincided with a change of mindset at Munster. When Graham Rowntree came in as head coach in 2022, Mike Prendergast – who leads Ireland A as head coach today – soon followed as attack coach while Denis Leamy joined to take charge of the defence. As Munster moved toward a more expansive style of rugby, Daly was one of many players who subsequently enjoyed an upturn of form.
Crucially, that new Munster gameplan was more closely aligned to what Ireland were striving for under Andy Farrell. Daly admits when he previously came into Ireland camps, the style felt too far removed from what he knew back at his province.
I think I always wanted to play the game expansively and wanted to express myself from the skills side of the game, and probably didn’t really always have the opportunity to do that and didn’t have the comfort and the freedom to do that.
“So when I came up here they wanted to play that way and I hadn’t been repping it. So when I was in the senior sessions I found it pretty difficult at that stage. I could understand it, I had the rugby brain for it, but I couldn’t do it because I hadn’t been repping it in my province, so to have that in the bank for the last few years has made the transition up here exciting for me and I’m looking forward to showing them I can really manage up at this level.
“It’s actually made easier as well when you’re playing with top level players to flow in sessions and to get ahead of the game,” he continues.
“People are on the same page whereas sometimes it can be difficult playing with young players in provinces or people that are less experienced, whereas when you come up to this level, the better you are as a player, the more that will show, so that’s something that I’ve been keen to really get across.”
The feedback from Farrell trickled in over those frustrating years outside the Ireland camp, and while the various disappointments took some time to digest, the Corkman never fully lost faith.
“I got the odd call when squads have been announced, just letting me know I’m not in, and that maybe ‘this’ is something I can work on. I didn’t get too much direction, I’m always trying to get better but it was hard to find one specific thing I could focus on and try nail my position in. It’s been challenging at times.
“We’ve (Munster) gone really well as a team and there were windows where I thought I might have had an opportunity. Look, that’s sport. There’s so many good players in the back three at Ireland, that’s just the nature of it.
“It’s about keeping the head and making sure I’m not getting too down on it, making sure it’s Munster first, and anything after that is a bonus. As long as I’m playing for Munster and Munster are winning, I would hope it leads to green jerseys. That’s my focus and I really hope it does get me where I want to go.”
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'I've been dying to get back here for a few years' - Daly keen to seize chance with Ireland A
THE QUESTION ALMOST feels too blindingly obvious to ask, but we put it to Shane Daly anyway on the off-chance he might throw back an unexpected name. He doesn’t. No prizes for guessing who Daly looked up to as a soccer-mad Manchester United supporting young fella growing up in Cork.
“Ah, well being from Cork Roy Keane was the man,” Daly replies. “I loved soccer. Even now when I watch the Premier League I’m kind of half-thinking I should be there, but there was absolutely no chance.”
The Munster player has never met the former United and Ireland captain, and admits he would probably “bottle it” if he did.
And while rugby has provided him with a living, the footballing skills he learned across his formative years continue to come in handy. There’s been countless times where Daly has used his feet to deal with a tricky ball in the Munster backfield, while his kicking game is another strong point. His wonderful solo try in Munster’s Champions Cup win over Stade Francais in December – where Daly twice chips over a defender on his way to scoring – will be a contender for try of the season.
Daly himself feels those years playing soccer and GAA helped him become the rugby player he is today.
“Look, I think it’s massive. My advice to any young fella would be to play as many sports as possible. It’s something that’s stood to me in a lot of areas.
“Defensively, I used to play as a defender in soccer and it’s a different sport, but it’s the same thing. You’re reading body language, you’re trying to see where they’re going next, you’re trying to get ahead of the game.
With Gaelic football, the aerial skills have been the biggest help to his rugby career.
“If you play in the back three it’s definitely something that’ll assist you. Every sport has something to learn in it that applies to something else, and Gaelic football is a good one for that, especially for the aerial stuff.”
Now 28, Daly is an interesting point in his career. He’s long been established as a key man at provincial level – starting all 18 regular-season URC games for Munster last season – but the road to Test rugby remains as congested as ever.
Today he starts at fullback for Ireland A against England A in Bristol [KO 1pm, live on RugbyPass TV], and like every single member of Mike Prendergast’s squad, he’s hoping the opportunity helps him push toward the senior squad.
A former Ireland U20 international, Daly was capped twice at Test level in 2020 and 2021. Since then, he’s been called into camps and featured in Emerging Ireland and Ireland A games, but the phone has gone cold over the last few seasons. Speaking to the media last week as the Ireland A group came together in Abbotstown, Daly’s excitement at being back in the mix was evident.
“I’ve been dying to get back here for a few years. I feel like since I started playing my best rugby I haven’t been in this building, so I’m really excited to show what I can do to the coaches and just even to get out on the pitch today I was buzzing to just show what I’ve learned over the last few years under coaches that I’ve been working with, Prendy, Leams, all the lads, Cossie, there’s been so many of them, but the way they want to play the game is very similar to here, whereas before when I came up I probably didn’t have that experience.
“So I feel like I’m a much better player overall, and I’m really hoping they see that as well.”
What Daly sees as his best years have coincided with a change of mindset at Munster. When Graham Rowntree came in as head coach in 2022, Mike Prendergast – who leads Ireland A as head coach today – soon followed as attack coach while Denis Leamy joined to take charge of the defence. As Munster moved toward a more expansive style of rugby, Daly was one of many players who subsequently enjoyed an upturn of form.
Crucially, that new Munster gameplan was more closely aligned to what Ireland were striving for under Andy Farrell. Daly admits when he previously came into Ireland camps, the style felt too far removed from what he knew back at his province.
“So when I came up here they wanted to play that way and I hadn’t been repping it. So when I was in the senior sessions I found it pretty difficult at that stage. I could understand it, I had the rugby brain for it, but I couldn’t do it because I hadn’t been repping it in my province, so to have that in the bank for the last few years has made the transition up here exciting for me and I’m looking forward to showing them I can really manage up at this level.
“It’s actually made easier as well when you’re playing with top level players to flow in sessions and to get ahead of the game,” he continues.
“People are on the same page whereas sometimes it can be difficult playing with young players in provinces or people that are less experienced, whereas when you come up to this level, the better you are as a player, the more that will show, so that’s something that I’ve been keen to really get across.”
The feedback from Farrell trickled in over those frustrating years outside the Ireland camp, and while the various disappointments took some time to digest, the Corkman never fully lost faith.
“I got the odd call when squads have been announced, just letting me know I’m not in, and that maybe ‘this’ is something I can work on. I didn’t get too much direction, I’m always trying to get better but it was hard to find one specific thing I could focus on and try nail my position in. It’s been challenging at times.
“We’ve (Munster) gone really well as a team and there were windows where I thought I might have had an opportunity. Look, that’s sport. There’s so many good players in the back three at Ireland, that’s just the nature of it.
“It’s about keeping the head and making sure I’m not getting too down on it, making sure it’s Munster first, and anything after that is a bonus. As long as I’m playing for Munster and Munster are winning, I would hope it leads to green jerseys. That’s my focus and I really hope it does get me where I want to go.”
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