Trailblazer Sean Daly lauds Randal Óg’s role in his rise

SEAN Daly’s rise and subsequent success epitomises the phrase ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Putting a Randal Óg spin on it, it takes a community to raise the parish’s first inter-county All-Ireland winner.

The Ballinacarriga man (20) has helped to put his homeland on the map in recent times, playing his role in Randals’ rise from junior B to junior A in both hurling and football, as county final appearances became the norm.

This year Sean took it to the next level – he was involved on the Cork U20 hurling team that won Munster and All-Ireland honours.

He is the first Randal Óg player to bring an inter-county All-Ireland medal back to Ballinacarriga, and the only Carbery representative on the Cork squad added a Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star monthly award to his collection in recognition of his role in the Rebels’ success.

While Randals are thrilled to laud Sean, the UCC student is keen to highlight his club’s role in his journey.

‘The club has been incredible,’ he says, ‘that’s where it started, down in the pitch on Sunday mornings playing hurling after mass.

‘As the years have gone on the support I have got from the club has been unbelievable. Even this year, it was unbelievable. It started with the Canon O’Brien Cup back in February, half the parish was up in Cork that day. In every game since I see faces from Ballinacarriga there, and that’s not a short spin from West Cork.

‘There were fellas who never went to matches before going to games!

‘Wherever you go, you see someone you know, and you know they are behind you and they’ll back you.’

Award winner Sean Daly pictured with his parents Colman and Melanie and his sister Thea.

That support is a great strength to Sean who says he always had a love for hurling, more so than football. In football country, he keeps hurling on the map. That said, he’s a force on the football field too and has been involved with the Carbery senior divisional team, part of the 2022 Tadhg Crowley Cup-winning team.

‘I stuck at hurling. I went to national school at Newcestown which was a help and then I went to Hammies so I was surrounded by hurlers then; there were always fellas to puck around with,’ Sean explains, and he feels starting college in UCC last year was key to his Cork U20 success this year. That gave him the platform to show what he can do.

‘You wouldn’t have many coming down to West Cork too often to look at hurlers,’ he points out, but Daly’s performances for UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup caught the eye of those who matter. The door opened again: he was on the Cork U20 hurling panel for the second year in a row. He started three of Cork’s first four Munster U20 championship games, but an injury against Clare knocked him back then. Still, he played his role in this triumph.

‘We were very tight as a group. We always said we were like a club team, we were tied in together and the management had a big role in that,’ he explains, but as the calendar turns, so do his targets. Right now, it’s all about Randals here in Carbery, and then UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup will come into focus.

In the midst of that, Sean took time out on a Monday night to attend the West Cork Sports Star award presentation in the Celtic Ross Hotel. No surprise, Ballinacarriga turned out in force to support one of their own.

‘It’s an award for the club and the community more than an individual,’ he says, ‘all the effort they have put in supporting me and driving me on, and this is recognition of them more than anything.’