PROFILE ANTHONY DALY:THERE HE WAS, just a few weeks ago, in the thick of the Willie Clancy music festival, looking for a session to round off the night. Nothing unusual about that, except Anthony Daly was proudly decked out in the Dublin colours, complete with navy blue baseball cap.
You can take the hurling man out of Clare, but with this man, the hurling comes with him. Clare’s loss is Dublin’s gain and yet there will always be room in the hurling world for men like Anthony Daly.
Indeed, in a game played not by men but giants, “Dalo” – as he’s affectionately known – stands head and shoulders above most, both lovable and admirable at the same time. Although that’s not saying he doesn’t like to play David against the Goliaths.
If Daly wasn’t born with a hurl in his hand, would Clare have won two All-Irelands in the 1990s? Probably not. If he hadn’t agreed to take over as the Dublin hurling manager three years ago, would they be contesting tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final? Absolutely not.
These are theoretical lines, naturally, but Daly has already left such an indelible imprint on hurling – first with Clare, now with Dublin – that he’s already walking among the living legends, only with plenty more living to do. As a player his actions on the field spoke louder than words, and yet now, off the field, his words sometimes speak louder than the action.
“Dalo, being honest, is an inspiration when he speaks,” said his former Clare team-mate Davy Fitzgerald this week, when asked how Daly would approach tomorrow’s showdown against All-Ireland champions Tipperary.
“He’s so positive, number one. And he’ll have one or two good phrases in his head, I can tell you, that will motivate his players, and get them going. Because this guy’s a winner, without a shadow of a doubt. I couldn’t speak highly enough of him.
“He’s one of the major reasons we had success in Clare, and I think you can see this year these Dublin hurlers believe in Dalo. If he asks them to do anything, they’ll do it. He’ll be asking them tomorrow to throw off the shackles, tear into this, and not stop. And hit them as hard as you can.”
That might sound a little crude, perhaps futile even, but that really is the basis of his game, to play with the heart as much as the head – because Daly has never known it any other way. Born into a council house in Clarecastle, in 1969, he grew up in a era when Clare were still the whipping boys of Munster hurling, yet he and his team-mates found the heart and will to change all that.
He learnt his trade at St Flannan’s College in Ennis, also known as the Clare Hurling Nursery, and although he tasted All-Ireland honours at schoolboy level, success never came easy after that. Daly won nothing at either minor or under-21 grade and, after joining the Clare seniors in 1990 and being named captain two years later, his career at first seemed destined for failure.
Then, as if on cue, along came Ger Loughnane – who in his first year as Clare manager, in 1995, introduced the whipping boys to the joys of windswept Crusheen and the steepest hill west of the Shannon. In other words, Loughnane trained them harder and smarter than they’d ever believed possible – and the rest is hurling history.
“There’s been a missing person in Clare for 81 long years,” shouted Daly from the steps of Hogan Stand after captaining Clare to the 1995 All-Ireland. “Today, that person has been found alive and well. And that person’s name is Liam McCarthy.”
He claims to have never prepared that speech, and anyone who knows Daly would agree he usually speaks in spontaneous bursts of emotion, although he also claims to be quite shy.
After briefly working as a bank official, he opened his own pub, and later a sports shop, in Ennis. He’s since leased the pub, while his wife Eilish now helps run the shop. Their three daughters (aged 12, 10 and eight) are all active in Gaelic games.
In 1997, when Clare won back their Munster and then All-Ireland titles, Daly famously declared Clare “no longer the whipping boys of Munster” – and indeed that summer saw them beat Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary (twice), the three big guns of hurling.
Unfortunately for Clare, that's as good as it got. 1998 saw Daly's team lose a bizarre All-Ireland semi-final to Offaly, which went to a second replay, after the referee blew the whistle too early in the first, which Clare had comfortably won. (Offaly went on to win the All-Ireland.) Indeed, perhaps his luck has changed, temporarily at least: after two more years of apparent decline, Daly retired at the end of the 2000. He did a stint as an analyst on RTÉ's The Sunday Game, and although typically frank and honest, never looked entirely comfortable in the hot seat. "I missed the buzz," he admitted, "of the dressing-room, the field, the chat. That's my addiction."
So, after some rehearsal work managing Clarecastle and Kilmoyley to club titles, he took over as Clare manager in 2003, following in the famous footsteps of Ger Loughnane. Yet after three seasons of minor hits and big misses, he walked away. “I was depressed for three months after giving up Clare,” he said. “I could have stayed with Clare for a fourth year but I felt that if I failed for a fourth season there was no way of ever going near it again.”
He found some refuge again in club coaching, until November 2008, when Gerry Harrington, then chairman of the Dublin County Board, made that fateful phone call: Would Daly be interested in the Dublin job? Harrington had actually called in hope more than expectation, figuring Daly would say no thanks.
“I think when they called they were at the stage of just ruling out fellas,” said Daly. “I said I’d meet them. I was fairly positive when I thought about it and they made a great case. And sure it’s only about two-and-a-half hours from the Red Cow to Ennis. And I didn’t start driving till I was 26, so it’s still a bit of a novelty. And I suppose Dublin reminded me again of ourselves. It’s like the marathon, when they hit the wall and they can’t get past anybody. We were like that in Clare.”
Daly hit a major wall in one of his first competitive games in charge, in January 2009, when Dublin were trounced 6-12 to 0-12 by Kilkenny, in the Walsh Cup. Gradually he turned things around, not just mentally but physically too: introducing Dublin hurlers to the thrill of early-morning training sessions, and proper, supervised gym work. They were rewarded that summer with a first Leinster final since 1991, and although they lost to Kilkenny 2-18 to 0-18, the progress was undeniable.
Then Dublin went out in the 2010 championship qualifier, against Antrim, and blew a six-point lead, to lose by one. Daly was not impressed. “There were a few fears alright, that he wouldn’t come back after that,” recalled Dublin forward Liam Rushe. “Especially since he disappeared for about two weeks, and didn’t pick up his phone.”
Rushe personifies the new breed of Dublin hurler, who has the talent and now belief to mix it with the best – yet he realises too the importance of having a man like Daly on board: “You can see it just talking to him – he’s so charismatic and inspirational. And there is a bit of magnetism about him. He led Clare to two All-Irelands, and maybe he should have had a few more. He really is the man for our present situation. There are serious parallels to be drawn between Dublin and Clare because they came from nowhere to win too.”
The 2011 Dublin hurling team – beefed up by dual star Conal Keaney and Tipperary import Ryan O’Dwyer – beat Kilkenny to win a first league title since 1939, and did so in style. Suddenly Daly’s main task was keeping a lid on the hype. Kilkenny got some revenge in the Leinster final, but Dublin rebounded to beat Limerick and set up tomorrow’s showdown with Tipperary. It’s a big ask, and maybe just a step too far right now on Dublin’s sweet journey of progress, but at least they have the right man on the sidelines in Anthony Daly.
Curriculum vitae
Who is he?The Clare hurler who has won two All-Irelands with his native county, and is now looking to do likewise as Dublin manager.
Why is he in the news?He'll be patrolling the sidelines tomorrow as Dublin play their first All-Ireland hurling semi-final since 1948.
Most appealing characteristic:An Unbridled, unapologetic hurling passion.
Least appealing characteristic:May go missing for a while if his team loses
Most likely to say:"Sure, we'll give it a go, rattle them up a bit, give them gruff."
Least likely to say:"Jesus, lads, you're hitting a bit hard there – back off a little."
