“It is how the game works. I remember being told I would play just before covid, then Ireland vs Italy was called off. Players were released back to the provinces and I was out. In that situation, I didn’t tell anyone thankfully that I was named to play originally, because you’d have to explain afterwards the bad news.” 

How did he get here? It was truly the scenic route. Daly grew up in Kilkock, Co. Kildare. He played anything and everything, representing the GAA club from underage to senior in hurling and football. He featured for North Kildare rugby club, joined the Leinster academy and made back-to-back Ireland U20 squads in 2017 and 2018.

The second row tried to make it with Leinster. He joined Connacht on a short-term deal. A move Stateside to Major League Rugby fell through due to visa complications. He played for Clontarf and won Division 1A Player of the Year in 2022. Having skipped J1 trips and holidays abroad, eventually he elected to emigrate to Australia with friends.

He thought he was finished with the game. The game wasn’t finished with him.

Daly joined the famous Randwick in Sydney and won a Shute Shield. His coach there, former Wallaby Morgan Turini, heralded him as the best player in the competition. Queensland quickly came calling.

“I have always trained hard, but the main difference is my confidence now. I wish I had this confidence when I was younger. I felt like I never belonged in there at times. Now I feel like I belong. This is what I want to do and can do. I feel like when I am confident, I can take on the world. It is something I struggled with in the past. That is actually one thing I really regret it now; I wish I had that confidence younger. I would have pushed on a lot faster.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now without the AIL. Players and mentors, some tips and tricks. It is huge. It is a really under-rated tool we have in Ireland. The standard of players there, maybe they aren’t mentioned because they didn’t come the conventional way. A big school, straight into the academy and play for Leinster. Some people might be a late bloomer. Hopefully, there is still a pathway for them.” 

He was the first Irish player to play for the Reds since Peter Clohessy 27 years ago when he debuted against NSW Waratahs. He is used to feeling like the outlier.

“You are in the Leinster team or Ireland U20s, there might be three lads from the same pathway and the rest are from the schools’ path, these big schools that can train every day in the gym or some amazing facility.

“My school was all football. At the time you are thinking it is nearly a badge of honour. I made it this way. Maybe this will push on more from a non-schools’ background. When I was younger, you’d love to look at someone and say he has done that. He hasn’t come from a big school.” 

Former Irish U20s coach Les Kiss is in charge of the Reds. He watched closely as Daly’s sloping graph continued to rise in Sydney. Randwick hadn’t won the title since 2004. Daly powered over in the final for the opening try and sent them on their way. That season provided everything he wanted the sport to be. He’d travelled 10,000 miles and felt at home.

“At that level, you are enjoying it, but you want to win. It just kept rolling. We’d win a few games; you feel something is coming together and we know we are onto something. I was there enjoying myself too. A good few Irish guys live there. We would go out for a few drinks, towards the end of the season as we started to get close, I cut back and the Aussies were telling me not to do that. “You’re playing well. Why change? Keep going out! 

“I think I found it hard to stick to not go at something 100% before. Growing up you miss holidays or whatever. When I played football, I was pretty into it. I wouldn’t go out really. The good thing about rugby is it has a balance. There are no drinking bans or curfews. It is different.

“In Randwick we would go out and have a schooner or beer with dinner. I thought it was crazy when we had a game on Saturday. They made the point it’s a break with the lads. That is grand. Whereas back home you wouldn’t be seen near a pub before a game.” 

It keeps building, the snowball effect in action. The 25-year-old is content to take each day as it comes. Doing just that has led to the best rugby of his career. A Brisbane TV crew turned up at training recently to interview him: ‘Have you thought about going back to play for Ireland?’ He laughs at the temerity of it.

“I’m only thinking about the Queensland Red and playing,” he says.

“Just focus on the pitch, it doesn’t matter what else is going on. It is just a game of rugby. The same game I played in North Kildare. The same rules, the same white lines, the same ball. You can’t lose sight of that.”