'What was taken from me was not only the man I loved. What was taken from me was my future'
Barry Daly with his partner Katie O’Reilly and their children.
The partner of 44-year-old postman Barry Daly, who was murdered in the front garden of their home on a night of great sports celebrations in the town, now visits his grave every day.
“I sit with him and tell him everything that is going on in our lives, what the boys are doing, what they have achieved and all the things I wish I could still tell him at the end of the day. I never imagined that after 20 years together, this would be how our conversations would continue,” Katie O’Reilly said in her victim impact statement, read by Garda Maria McCarthy at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
“Barry and I always spoke about running away and getting married quietly one day and coming back to surprise everyone afterwards because we never wanted the big wedding. We talked about improving the house and growing old together. More than anything, Barry wanted a large happy family. He spoke often about grandchildren and joked that after all the boys he deserved some granddaughters too. That future was stolen from us.
“What was taken from me was not only the man I loved. What was taken from me was my future, my safety and the life we had spent 20 years building together. What was taken from our children was their father. What was taken from Barry was the chance to watch his boys grow into men and the chance to become the grandfather he dreamed of being,” she said.
20-year-old Alex Deady, of Glenview, Convent Road, Doneraile, Co Cork, and a 17-year-old — both convicted of murdering Barry Daly, and a 16-year-old who admitted manslaughter, on October 12, 2025, all face sentencing. Alex Deady will be sentenced on Monday, August 31.
Because of a probation report being prepared on the 17-year-old and psychiatrists’ or psychologists’ report assessing the maturity of this teenager, and the 16-year-old, were directed on Friday, Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford put the teenagers’ cases in for mention on August 7, to be further adjourned until August 31.
If reports are not available for that sentencing date, their sentencing will be done in mid-September. Alex Deady will definitely be sentenced on August 31, the judge said.
The Daly family’s victim impact statement was read on their behalf by Mags Lucy of Support After Homicide: “Every time we see an An Post van for a split second you think is it Barry. But it will never be him again.
“Barry was so kind and cheerful. He always had a smile on his face, and was a real people's person and this showed in his job that he loved as a postman. He was considerate of older people, who he knew may not see anyone else that day. He would always stop for the chats.
“Barry was the spark in our family and now that spark has gone out. The world is altered for us all and now we see danger where it didn't exist before. We will miss Barry forever. We will speak of him often and never let his sons forget him and his exuberant character. He lives on in all of them. We will remember all of the good times we shared with him.”
Thanking the gardaí and legal team, the Daly family also said: “We want to thank the communities of Doneraile, Two Pot House, and Mallow, who have rallied around us all, not just when this happened but still now. We appreciate greatly all the support you have given to us all.”
Adult son of Barry Daly, Ryan Daly, said he felt for those in the family suffering so much from the loss of his father, namely the deceased’s partner, his parents, and four young sons.
Claire O’Reilly spoke on behalf of the O’Reilly family: “Since Barry died, we've learned even more about the kind of man he was. Being a postman was never just a job to Barry. He genuinely cared about the people on his route, especially those who lived alone.
"Hearing that really stayed with us because it summed Barry up perfectly. Barry never did those things for recognition or praise. He did them because he had the biggest heart and couldn't walk away from someone who needed a little bit of kindness.
“Our little bubble burst the day Barry was murdered. Nothing will ever bring him back. Nothing will ever give us back the life we had before.
“We don't just miss Barry on birthdays or anniversaries. We miss him in the ordinary moments. We miss his laugh. We miss seeing him walk through the door. We miss having him around the table. We miss the future we all thought we'd share with him. Barry wasn't just someone we loved. He was part of who we were as a family.
"His murder didn't just take Barry from us. It changed every single one of us, and it changed our family forever.”
Katie O’Reilly, Barry Daly’s partner, thanked Garda liaison officer Maria McCarthy and all of the gardaí in the case, particularly, Detective Inspector John O’Connell, Detective Sergeant Michael O’Regan, and detective gardaí Anne Flynn, Noelle McSweeney, Aidan Long, Gary Costello, Paul Cotter, Ben McNamara and Paul O’Shea for their investigation, which commenced just after 2am on October 12, 2025, when Barry Daly was found dead in his front garden and celebrations were only beginning to ebb following the Doneraile hurling team’s championship victory the previous afternoon.
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