Shane Daly: 'Once I switched from Gaelic football to rugby, I never thought it was going to happen'

PAIRC DREAM: Munster's Shane Daly with family after the Investec Champions Cup match against Gloucester at SuperValu Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

It was not just the honour of scoring the first rugby try at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh that makes the iconic Cork GAA venue a special place for Shane Daly, nor his record of now winning on all three of his appearances for Munster there.

What really added to the lustre of the wing’s return to the Páirc last Saturday for a first Champions Cup game at the stadium was the 28-year-old’s lineage as the grandson of a former Cork hurling captain and serial county SHC medal winner.

Mick McCarthy was once the subject of an Irish Examiner feature from 2001 which posited the question, “The best Cork player not to win an All Ireland medal?”. 

The article is framed and mounted on a wall in the Daly family house, celebrating a patriarch born in 1938, who won plenty besides: a Harty Cup for North Monastery in 1955 and the Munster Senior Hurling Championship as a member of the Cork panel a year later while still a minor. 

McCarthy, now in his 87th year, also won five Cork SHC medals for the Glen, though as Daly admitted ahead of this Saturday’s URC trip to Ospreys, the grandson’s preference for Gaelic football, with Bishopstown, was a source of some disquiet.

“I was Bishopstown GAA in Gaelic football. My grandfather was a hurling captain of Cork so he was always on my case about not being a hurler,” Daly said.

“I was always a Gaelic football player. I really enjoyed it, played until about U16s and then as I was in Pres, I had to start focusing more towards one sport. And the rugby took over from about 16 onwards. But I always enjoyed football and it's cool to play in those grounds now.

“All my family's from Bishopstown so I was kind of brought up by my two sets of grandparents as my parents were working. And I ended up just going off to the GAA club up there even though I'm from Frankfield/Douglas area, there was a bit of controversy over that.

“I used to go down and watch games there and to even think of ever playing a rugby match there wasn't something I expected to do. So to be able to play there, once I switched from Gaelic football to fully rugby, I never thought it was probably going to happen.

“So we're just lucky that the club is so well set up and it puts these types of occasions on for us. And it's a real privilege to be able to play in those games.” 

The Munster back-three player has relished his Páirc Uí Chaoimh experiences, from opening the scoring with a try in the province’s first game there against South Africa A in November 2022 to last Saturday’s 31-3 bonus-point European pool victory over Gloucester.

“It's an amazing place to play. I've loved it ever since that first game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh against South Africa. I have special memories from that game and as a result, every time I go back there, it's just such a privilege. And we always seem to get such a big crowd probably due to the fact of how well we played in that first game and how it made people feel around the place.

“And we're very conscious of that as players, that the way we perform can make or break someone's weekend in a way and put a smile on people's faces.

“For us, that's part of it. At this point, when we don't perform, especially like the weekend, when we left scores out there, that 36,000 people pay tickets to come down and see us and we're leaving things out there we potentially could be a lot better at.

“So there's a frustration that comes with having that type of crowd and not putting in a performance that we're very proud of. It was amazing to play there and we're unbelievably thankful for the support but a lot of learnings from the weekend as well and we're going to try and apply them this week.” 

Chief among those lessons for the Munster backline is atoning for those missed opportunities at Páirc Uí Chaoimh when the action transfers to the URC at Bridgend’s Brewery Field on Saturday evening.

Daly, who turns 29 on the eve of the match, said the issue had been pinpointed in the Gloucester game review.

“Just our communication about not getting too eager, making sure our communication is calm in every area of the pitch. I think what can happen in big games especially, or when there's a big crowd is people get excited when they get too close to the line. They want to fix things themselves or they want to go out and score themselves.

“Not getting individual in that area is so important and being able to keep your composure because sometimes the space is on the edge and if you get caught too flat, you can't get the ball away. You can't get the ball to where the best space is.

“That's when errors start to creep in. You start to drop the ball. You start to try to force things on the line more than if you took a step beforehand you had a bit more time to see the picture or get the ball away.

“Just not getting individual and trusting our system that will get us over the line rather than individuals going out on their own and making those decisions.”