Daly happy to seize his second chance

THERE’S nothing a like a year spent on the MondayFriday, 9-5 grind to reignite one’s dream to become a professional rugby player.

That’s the position Barry Daly found himself in, but just as he had accepted his fate, the cards suddenly began to fall his way.

Such is the conveyor belt of talent in Leinster, Daly found himself on the outside when he was overlooked for a place in the province’s Academy.

“I gave up for about two years,” the winger reflects.

“It was Noel McNamara (Ireland U-20s head coach) who got me back into it and as I said I started playing Sevens again and that really got me going.

“When I came out of college I was working in KPMG for a year. It was good. It was different.

BLESSED

“I feel blessed that I got the opportunity to see what the real working world is like and I got to experience college life. A lot of guys in here didn’t really get to do that. There’s positives in everything.”

Now 25, Daly is in his second year with Leinster and working in an office is all but a distant memory.

The feeling in November was that Daly was in line for a possible Ireland debut but an ankle injury scuppered his chances, and with that he fell back down the pecking order.

A prolific winger, Daly has clocked the top speed in Leinster when he ran 10.5 metres per second over a 60-metre sprint at altitude against the Cheetahs earlier this season.

Joe Schmidt recognised his form by calling him into Carton House for the first time earlier this month.

The goal now is to force his way into Leinster’s plans, while the summer tour of Australia looms large on the horizon.

“Everyone would love to go onto the next level, I’m the exact same,” Daly adds.

“There are big games coming up so I’m targeting to play in them.”