Donal Daly is a former footballer with the Kerry senior football team in the 1990s and 2000s. He played his club football with Firies and East Kerry.

Club

He played club football with Firies and East Kerry. With East Kerry he won three

Kerry Senior Football Championship The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 18 ...

title in a row from 1997-99. With Firies he won a Kerry Novice Football Championship in 1995.

Junior

Daly first lined out with Kerry with the counties junior side in 1994. His only game was the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

final win over

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Under 21

He joined the Kerry Under 21 team for the 1995 championship. Wins over Clare,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

and Clare seen Daly win a Munster title. Kerry later overcame

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

champions Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final. In the final Kerry faced Mayo. Daly scored a point as the sides finished level. In the replay Daly's side took the title.

Senior

Daly first linked up with the Kerry senior team during the 1996 championship. He scored three points in the semi-final win over

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. He came on as a sub in the Munster final win over

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

to win his first Munster senior medal. He played no part in the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Mayo. He played in all of Kerry's 1996/97 National League games, bar the final win over

. He played no part as Kerry overcame Clare to retain the Munster title, nor did he play in the All-Ireland semi-final win over

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

. He came on as a sub as Kerry beat Mayo to win a first All-Ireland since 1986, and give Daly his first senior medal. He was Kerry's first choice midfielder for the 1998 championship. He won a second Munster title after Kerry beat Tipperary in the final, a game where Daly scored a point. He was midfield for the All-Ireland semi-final, where Kerry had a surprise loss to

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

. He again played in all of Kerry's championship games in 1999. Wins over Tipperary and Clare set up a Munster final with

. However, Cork took the title. Daly was again at midfield as Kerry overcame

and Clare to win his third Munster medal in 2000. In the All-Ireland semi-final two games including extra time were needed to overcome

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

, Daly scoring a point in each game. Two games would again be needed to get over the line in the All-Ireland final with

. In the first game the sides were level at full time on a 0-17 each scoreline. In the re-play, despite an early

goal, Kerry and Daly came out the right side of a 0-17 to 1-10 scoreline. This gave Daly his second All-Ireland senior medal. Daly was still a requler in midfield during the 2001 season. Wins over Tipperary,

and

gave Daly his fourth Munster title in three seasons, he also scored a point in the Munster final. In the first season of the new championship format, Kerry faced

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in the All-Ireland quarter-final. It would take two games but in the end Daly and Kerry booked another All-Ireland semi-final spot with

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. Many expected the clash of the 1999 and 2000 All-Ireland champions to be a classic. However, Kerry suffered one of their biggest championship losses in history, going down 2-14 to 0-05. Having started every game from 1998 to 2001 Daly missed out on Kerry's 2002 Munster champain. He was back in the team for Kerry's first ever All-Ireland Qualifier game with

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

, also a first championship meeting between the two, a game the Kingdom had little fuss in winning. He kept his place in further wins over

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

and

seen Kerry back in

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

to face

in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Kerry kept up their winning ways as they overcame

and

in book another All-Ireland final. It was to be Daly's third All-Ireland final at senior level and Kerry faced

. Despite leading at half time the

champions came back to take the title by a single point on a 1-12 to 0-15. The 2002 All-Ireland final would turn out to be Daly's final championship game with Kerry. He played in all but one of Kerry's 2003 National League games, as well as playing during the 2004 league.

Honours

East Kerry

: **Winner (3): 1997, 1998, 199

Kerry

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

: **Winner (2): 1997, 2000 **Runner-up (1): 2002 *

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Associatio ...

: **Winner (5): 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003 (sub) **Runner-up (1): 1999 *

All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ...

: **Winner (1): 1995 *

Munster Under-21 Football Championship The Munster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest ...

: **Winner (1): 1995 *

All-Ireland Junior Football Championship The All-Ireland Junior Football Championship is a Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA competition It has historically consisted of two entirely different formats before and after 2021, but has retained the same name. Since 2022, the competition ...

: **Winner (1): 1994

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, Donal Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Firies Gaelic footballers Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)