IF TOM DALY does, as expected, win his first Ireland cap in the coming weeks, there’s a few fitting tunes he could belt out for his debut initiation song.
‘The Long and Winding Road’, ‘Don’t Stop Believin”, or perhaps he could follow in Craig Casey’s footsteps and dip into the George Michael songbook with a rendition of ‘Faith’.
At 27, Daly is one of the older members of the uncapped group in Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the summer Tests against Japan and the USA. His journey to this milestone has included no shortage of pit-stops along the way.
“It’s been a long time coming from my All-Ireland League days,” Daly says, logging in for a chat from the IRFU’s training base in Abbotstown.
“I was 18 or 19 when I was playing in that. You see young lads like Jordan Larmour and Hugo (Keenan) skyrocket into the team, go straight from the Academy, one season with Leinster and into the Ireland team. That wasn’t the case with me. I went the longer route around.
“I played on every team that was put in front of me; A teams, provincial teams, it has taken that little bit longer. That makes it a little bit sweeter that I have finally got here (to the Ireland squad).
It is always a goal to play for Ireland, but it is probably only this year that it has been an attainable goal. Two or three years ago I probably was a good bit off this and I might have even thought myself that this day would never come. The chance to play regularly in Connacht has given me the chance to show what I can do. Luckily it’s led into an Irish camp and I am delighted to be here.”
The call from Andy Farrell finally arrived earlier this year, the Ireland boss taking the time to personally inform Daly that while he wouldn’t be involved in the Six Nations squad, his form had been noted.
That in itself was enough to keep the centre motivated, an acknowledgement that he had put himself on the right path ever since another Andy – Connacht coach Friend – dialled him up back in late 2018.
At that point Daly had represented Lansdowne in the AIL, the Ireland U20s, the Ireland Sevens, Leinster A and the Leinster senior team, but looked to be running out of road.
“When I was in my last season in Leinster it didn’t look like I was getting a contract, and I was looking around and there wasn’t much popping up,” he explains.
“So I was looking at other avenues, maybe finishing my college degree and stuff like that. But luckily at the time, Connacht needed a back, and Andy Friend gave me a call and said he liked what he had seen in me and if I’d be interested in coming down on loan for the rest of the season.
“It just happened to be great timing and that move has worked out really well for my career. I’ve kicked on really well in the last two years and played a lot of rugby down there in two seasons. It’s kind of restarted my career, and been the making of it really.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Daly made his Leinster debut in November 2016 but added just 11 more caps before joining Connacht in early 2019. Injury issues hampered his route to the first team, but so did the sheer volume of talented centres also vying for selection.
“The injuries were a main stumbling block in my career,” Daly continues.
“I thought I was going quite well (at Leinster). It was the first game of pre-season (2017-18) that I tore my ACL in Perpignan and that put me out for the majority of the season.
“When you are injured in Leinster there is always going to be younger lads coming through. Conor O’Brien, Jimmy O’Brien, lads like that are going to take their chances; they were playing exceptional rugby that year. When I eventually came back from injury I struggled to get back into the team because these lads had gone so well and earned the jersey. Why should Leo (Cullen) change it when they were playing really well?”
His first game for Connacht was a 71 minute run out against Munster in January 2019. He played nine more times for the province before the season ended. In the 2019/20 campaign, he added a further nine starts and seven appearances from the bench.
This season, Daly emerged as one of Connacht’s key men with 21 starts and two more as a substitute, his value to the province underlined when Friend handed him the captaincy for the first time last month. He’s already just one game shy of hitting 50 caps for Connacht.
This season (with Connacht) I have been involved in every game bar one. It is the first time in my career that I have played that amount of minutes in a season. The more you play as a rugby player, the better you are going to play and the more confidence you get. That has really stood to me, the amount of games.
“I spoke with Andy (Farrell) just before the Six Nations squad was named, he gave me a call just to say that I was close and gave me a few little work-ons, stuff like that.
“Throughout the year the (Ireland) coaches come down maybe once a month, it could be a different coach, they come down and watch training and you might catch up with them for five or 10 minutes after. But there wouldn’t have been a major amount of contact with the Irish coaches, so it was a nice surprise to get the email (that I had made the squad).”
Now that Daly finally finds himself in an Ireland squad, he’s determined to show he’s worth his place. It’s been too long a wait to not make the most of this opportunity.
“I spoke to a few of the lads who had been in before and a few of my coaches in Connacht, and they were saying ‘You’re there on merit, you’re there because you’ve had an incredible season and you’re there because you’re playing well.’
“So it’s about having that confidence that you are here because you are good enough, and getting in the squad is one thing, but getting into a team and getting that first cap is another thing, and that’s really my goal for the three weeks in here.
“I’d love to play in both the games and get caps, but there are four really good centres in here as well and you’re going to have to train really well and play really well in training to get that opportunity.”
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