Before The Coronas played Waterford’s Theatre Royal last month, lead singer Danny O’Reilly rounded up his bandmates and requested a favour. Any chance the soundcheck could be put back a few hours? Just, well, he had an All-Ireland semi-final to play.
And so as the band waited for him to return, one of Ireland’s most recognisable frontmen spent the afternoon playing football for the Dublin Masters (over-40s) against Waterford in Kilcullen.
With Bernard Brogan leading the scoring charge, the Dubs ran out comfortable winners to qualify for the All-Ireland final, which takes place at Lacken Celtic in Cavan on Saturday when Dublin will meet Donegal at 3pm.
“I had to delay the soundcheck, I’m sure the boys were like, ‘What are you talking about? You’re playing some match for some old man Dublin team?’,” O’Reilly says, laughing.
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“Touch wood, I haven’t turned up with any seriously broken bones yet. No, they’re very supportive to be fair and they know I love it.”
O’Reilly is best known these days for his onstage talent and rock star swagger. Son of Mary Black, music is in his blood. But Gaelic football has always stirred his soul.
As a talented teenager with Templeogue Synge Street, O’Reilly was called up to underage Dublin squads and contested an All-Ireland minor final with Dublin in 2003. The Dubs lost that decider to Laois after a replay, but he still has a Leinster medal from Dublin’s provincial final victory over the same opposition earlier in that campaign.
It was a Dublin team that included current senior manager Ger Brennan.
O’Reilly was on the fringes of Dublin under-21 squads a few years later and played for the capital’s junior team in 2006, but by then another gift was starting to draw away from football.
“In my early 20s, we just got a bit too busy. The music was calling me and I didn’t really have time to train.”
Despite his music career taking off, the lure of kicking a size-five never really left him.
A few years later the band were living in London and O’Reilly decided to pursue a hobby to fill the downtime.
“I love the boys – they’re my best mates – but sometimes when you are living and working together you just need a different element. So I googled the nearest GAA team to me and rocked up training for North London Shamrocks.”
He spent three seasons playing with Shamrocks and in 2014 O’Reilly scored 1-2 in the London intermediate final to help the club claim their first championship title.
“Once I came back from London, I never really got back playing at a proper level for the club at home, but I played a bit with the intermediates here and there.”
Still, there were occasions when the seniors came calling for a dig-out and O’Reilly would find himself playing midfield alongside Niall Scully or gasping for air trying to catch Jack McCaffrey. As you do.
His dad, Joe, can still be found pretty much any Saturday morning lining a pitch for Templeogue or helping out wherever he is needed. A good club man.
But he was a decent player, too. O’Reilly recently found a match programme from the 1994 All-Ireland Masters final, or Over-40s as it was branded then, when Dublin played Mayo. Among the Dublin players were his dad, Joe, and Dublin great Kevin McManamon’s dad, Maxie.
Through a mutual love of football and music, Danny O’Reilly and Kevin McManamon would grow up to become close friends and even lived together for several years. Then, this summer, they played together with the Dublin Masters.
“That’s one of my earliest memories of Kev − me and him on the sidelines watching our dads play for the Over-40s. Now I’m saying it to a few of the young kids knocking around with their dads at Masters training, ‘I was your age watching my dad play in this’. It’s cool.”
On Saturday it’s a stacked Dublin team that includes McManamon, Bernard Brogan, Eoghan O’Gara, Ross McConnell and Paul Brogan. For O’Reilly, it has been a case of living out some of his sporting fantasies.
“I said it to my fiancee recently: a few years ago I would have literally had dreams of playing football with Bernard Brogan. I obviously never thought it could happen, but I literally would have dreamt about it.”
This was his second season to be eligible and The Coronas’ schedule this year left a window of opportunity open.
“I remember shortly after I’d sort of agreed to go down training that I randomly bumped into Bernard Brogan in town. He said, ‘I hear you’re coming down to play with us’.
“I was like, ‘Eh, yeah, I’m going to try anyway’. But they were all so welcoming and encouraging, though I think they might only wanted me initially just to sing a few songs after the matches.”
But he’s proven his worth on the field. In what has been an unbeaten campaign for Dublin, O’Reilly started in four of the group games and lined out in the semi-final win last time out.
However, he will miss Saturday’s decider because his sister Róisín is getting married in Kerry.
“I’ll be missing the final, which is devastating. If it was a Coronas gig, I probably would have tried to cancel the show, but I can’t miss my sister’s wedding.
“Look, I’ve been so lucky to be involved as much as I have. We’re all delighted for Róisín and really looking forward to the wedding.”
Róisín O, as she goes by on stage, played alongside her cousin Aoife Scott at Croke Park last Saturday, singing the national anthem and performing a stunning rendition of Grace before Katie Taylor’s farewell fight.
O’Reilly was in New York this week doing promo work and recording a music video before the release of the Coronas’ new album later this year. Busy times.
And though a family wedding will take centre stage on Saturday, O’Reilly will be keeping an eye on the phone and hoping his team-mate Bernard Brogan brought his shooting boots to Lacken.
“I’ve really enjoyed the season. They really are such a great bunch of lads and they’ll want to put in a strong performance in the final. Hopefully we’ll all get to meet up next week at some stage.”
If Dublin win, O’Reilly may bring his guitar to that get-together.
