John Daly has legitimate claims to be nominated for Footballer of the Year but, as it turned out, and without even a mention, he was left out of The Sunday Game’s Team of the year.
Where do you even start with that?
Yes All-Stars are a cut-throat business, yes, this year’s renewal will be even more competitive than ever and yes, Tadhg Morley was brilliant for Kerry but John Daly was better. And the stats back that statement up.
All you need is a pair of eyes and an interest in Gaelic football to see that, whenever John Daly is on the ball, with the head-up and the foot down, the likelihood is that, from a Galway perspective, and within a matter of seconds, something is going to happen. All year, he was the throw-back that Galway and Gaelic football needed.
It was like watching Kieran McGeeney in his prime as, like centre backs were born to do, and from the Connacht championship right up to the All-Ireland final, Daly became the play-maker that made Galway tick.
He played like a traditional six the whole way through and while you could say that this was best seen in the All-Ireland final, when, with pinpoint passes, he set up three of Shane Walsh’s scores and one of Johnny Heaney’s, the truth is that it was plain to see all year.
Watch the first three scores in the video below to see Daly at his barnstorming best, charging out of defence and bombing straight onto the attack. That takes leadership as well as skill.
Watch the Half-Time Highlights of Kerry v Galway in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final here on #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/SGCiHDDATc
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 24, 2022
If we’re going in order, we could go back to the semi-final then when he set up all of Damien Comer’s 2-2 through kick-passes, from similar positions, and interceptions – the man is just as good in defence as he is in attack, as you will see in the below clip where he stands Conor Glass up brilliantly before driving his team forward straight away.
Damien Comer slots the ball into an empty net to get his second goal of the game for @Galway_GAA. pic.twitter.com/mc1jSaPcbf
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 9, 2022
Traditionally, centre backs were always the most important player on the team and that’s exactly the case with the elegant Mountbellew-Moylough player who, as Val Daly’s son, is the definition of a chip off the old block.
Donegal’s Kevin Cassidy knows a thing or two about playing in the half back line and when he took to Twitter last night, he summed up the sentiments of many.
“You simply can’t pick an All Star team this year and leave John Daly out,” said the Gaoth Dobhair club-man.
“In my opinion All Star awards should be for total consistency and this man delivered every game he played not alone defensively but he picks a pass like a centre forward.”
