'We have to find ways to be a nuisance to Dublin' insists Daly

IF Roscommon are to prevail in Sunday's All-Ireland Under-21 Football Final, at O'Connor Park, Tullamore (2pm), then Niall Daly's input will surely be of crucial importance. The 20 year-old, whose younger brother, Conor, is also a vital member of the team, has had a sensational twelve months. He helped Padraig Pearses to win the Roscommon intermediate title, and also UCC to win the Cork SFC crown, before losing with UCC in the Munster Club final (2011) to Dr Crokes. Daly then cemented his place in the thoughts of Roscommon senior manager Des Newton during the Rossies' Allianz Football League campaign, before steering the primrose and blue U-21s to provincial success (thanks to wins over Mayo and Sligo in late March and early April respectively). It's certainly been a hectic period in the sporting life of Niall Daly, regarded as one of the finest young talents Roscommon has produced in recent years. Lining out at midfield for the U-21s, Daly will be integral to his county's hopes this weekend. And though Nigel Dineen's charges face a highly-rated Dublin - who have blown away most of their opponents in this year's championship, including Westmeath on a 4-15 to 1-9 scoreline - Daly says it's vital Roscommon focus on their own performance and don't get caught-up thinking too much about Dublin. "In fairness, Nigel (Dineen) always said there's an All-Ireland title in this group, and him and his backroom team have been brilliant to us, and we're looking to reward them as much as ourselves," said the native of Creagh, close to Ballinasloe. "We definitely need to focus on ourselves. Obviously, you have to be aware of the opposition and what they're good and bad at, but we have our own positives to focus on, and so far there's been plenty of those during the championship. "We have to find ways to be a nuisance to them. If you look back at Dublin's semi-final against Cork, it was pretty even for long spells, and Dublin only really pulled away after getting a couple of goals. We know Dublin are physically very strong, but we've experience of that having played a tough Cavan side in the semi-finals. "We know what to expect from Dublin and we've a huge challenge ahead. Dublin have stormed past most opposition but this is going to be a huge occasion for Roscommon and we should enjoy it. It's a long time since we reached the under-21 final, but we're well able to compete and do ourselves proud," he added. Daly was one of only a handful of current players to play for Roscommon in the 2010 U-21 All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin, and says Roscommon got off to "an awful start" that day. "I think we were 2-2 to 0-1 down after ten minutes or something, and were always playing catch-up. We managed to get a foothold on proceedings near the end of the first half but then struggled to take our chances," recalled Daly. "We certainly need to take our chances this time around because Dublin have been racking up big scores," he continued. "We probably should have scored more in our previous games, particularly against Cavan in the semi-final, but our play has been pretty good. We have to take advantage of any purple patches we hit this weekend, and make the most of our possession. "It's been a great year for me personally, but winning against Dublin would cap it all off. We've been putting in a huge amount of effort this year and are focused completely on winning the All-Ireland." "We have a very good management team, and a great set of players, so hopefully things will fall into place for us and we can bring the cup home," added Niall.