Daly plays through pain barrier as Pearses bid for Connacht crown

By Kevin Egan

Regardless of how Sunday’s Connacht final goes, Niall Daly will be on the sideline for Moate Community School next week, trying to plot out a path to victory over Scoil Mhuire of Clane in the Leinster Schools championship.

Anyone who has seen the Pádraig Pearses and Roscommon footballer on the sideline for the school will have seen someone who carefully takes in the action as it unfolds, and who is calm and measured in his communication with players and officials alike.

Likewise, when he walks into the bar in Woodmount, the slightly uneasy gait and relaxed demeanour bears no relation to the footballer that he becomes when he pulls on a red jersey or a primrose and blue one.

On the field, there are those big moments on the ball, such as that trademark booming score that we’ve seen so many times, usually struck from the right-wing forward position, soaring over the crossbar from anything up to 50 metres out. The blocks, the tackles, the scrappy possessions that are mined out of midfield rucks and mauls, they’re all there.

But it’s off the ball that his influence is most pronounced. As a driving force for his colleagues, and an intimidating barrier for the opposition, he and the rest of the family have become emblematic of what Pádraig Pearses are as a team. Fearless, uncompromising, never a backwards step.

“We enjoy a battle and you get confidence from getting over the line in them,” is how he sums it up.

It’s not the first time lines are referenced in the conversation. When it comes to, let’s call it on-field negotiations, with match officials, Niall and his brothers are often quick to take on the role of plenipotentiaries. The fact that this is widely known, and yet instances of referees brandishing cards his way, or advancing frees as a response to his discussions, are quite rare - a testament to Daly’s awareness for what can and can’t be said in these situations.

“I suppose if you're not fighting for something, you never get it” he says.

“I remember even just on the way home from the match the other day and watching the Irish soccer game (against England), Evan Ferguson didn't argue for a penalty. He probably should have put up more of a fight to look for VAR.

“I do think if you look for it a small bit it can help, but obviously you don't want to go over the line and you keep respect for referees. And I suppose as players, if you're playing a long time, you do need to mentally, go to that stage where you're playing slightly on the edge without going over the edge. I don't know if it suits us or not, but we enjoy a battle and coming through it is a lot more sweeter I suppose”.

And largely speaking, they have been coming through those battles. When the story of their season is written, the wins over St. Brigid’s and Corofin will be the ones that will get the most airing out of the matches that have been played so far. But in some ways, the manner of their 0-13 to 0-3 win over Mohill was even more impressive, as they negotiated a landmine of a fixture without ever looking under pressure.

“There was a few hairy moments here and there, Paul Whelan saving us twice, but we won by 10 points and got into the final, that's the main thing” he replied.

“Early on, we probably did a few stupid things. But as the game wore on, I suppose a storm kind of kicked up too, it felt like a storm anyway. They had the wind behind them and they were all sitting back, we were happy enough to keep the score the way it was and you felt like you'd have the wind advantage in the second half”.

A lot of that composure and calm stemmed from the fact that while those outside Woodmount perceived their win over Corofin as a shock, those within the dressing room didn’t. It’s hard to be overconfident and ripe to be pulled down from your throne if you don’t see yourself as sitting on one in the first place.

“It (the Corofin result) wasn't a huge shock to ourselves, if you look at the celebrations on the field, it wasn't over the top or anything like that. We were fully sure going down that we had a massive chance of winning. We always say amongst ourselves if we can play to our potential, there's not too many teams around that will beat us. It's about playing to that potential.

“We've got a lot of good players on our team, if you look on paper versus Corofin, we'd feel as if we're better players.”

For any Irish sporting team to embrace expectation rather than seek the cover that comes with the underdog tag is unusual. For a west of Ireland team, it’s particularly rare – but that’s been their approach.

“It's probably from listening to Frank, that's his mantra, and Ross’s (Munnelly) and the management. You respect opponents obviously, but this year the focus has been on ourselves, playing to our potential, looking at stats at half-time etc., and what targets we have to try and hit. We're haven’t been looking at the opposition that much, no matter who they are, and it seems to be working at the moment, so we'll probably continue.”

That he has the chance to continue is something that Daly really appreciates – even though it’s looking more and more like this extension to Pádraig Pearses’ season might come at Roscommon’s cost in 2025.

“Adrenaline and all that gets me through the game. I’ll be sore during the game and then afterwards it'll be sore for a few days,” he explains, referring to his ongoing plantar fasciitis issue.

“You’ve just got to get on with it. It's the time of the year, it's great to be playing in these games, so there's no point whinging or worrying about, you just have to get on with it.

“I haven't spoken to Davy (Burke) properly yet but I will have to take some sort of break and some time out to see what I can get it right. I can't go on in life the way I’m going on, limping around in school, that's just not the way to be.

“I get too many injections to play now at this stage, so I'm just kind of trying to do it for the club at the moment and I love playing the way we are. But just in the long run I would say I'll get it sorted.

“It's cold here this evening and we're going out training, and looking forward to a Connacht final. I'd suffer on with the longer season and if that means missing the pre-season, that’s the way it is,” he added.