![\"Shane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4904837_2_articleinlinemobile_3309249.jpg\" "\\"Shane")
Shane Daly of Munster with family after the Investec Champions Cup match between Munster and Gloucester at SuperValu P\u00e1irc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile<\/p>\nMunster Rugby\u2019s visit to SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh carried plenty of Cork GAA links among the matchday squad.<\/p>\n
Shane Daly spoke this week about the special family resonance involved in his P\u00e1irc appearances.<\/p>\n
His grandfather, Mick McCarthy, served as Cork hurling captain in 1963 and won a clutch of county titles at the old Cork Athletic Grounds.<\/p>\n
The Glen Rovers clubman often lined out at full-back or on the wing, much like his grandson, only the sliotar has been replaced by the oval ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always on my case about not being a hurler,\u201d said Daly, who helped Munster to a 31-3 Champions Cup victory over Gloucester.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always a Gaelic football player. I really enjoyed it, played with Bishopstown until about U16s, and then, as I was in Pres, I had to start focusing more towards one sport. The rugby took over from about 16 onwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll my family is from Bishopstown, so I was brought up by my two sets of grandparents as my parents were working. I ended up just going off to the GAA club up there, even though I’m from the Frankfield\/Douglas area. There was a bit of controversy over that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to go down and watch games at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh, and to even think of ever playing a rugby match there wasn’t something I expected to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Once I switched fully from Gaelic football to rugby, I never thought it was going to happen. We’re just lucky that the club is so well set up and puts these types of occasions on for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n It’s a real privilege to be able to play in those games.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
It was fitting so, back in November 2022, that Daly scored the historic first try at the P\u00e1irc when Munster shocked a South African touring side. The winger joyfully celebrated that moment by punting the ball into the Blackrock End crowd.<\/p>\n
The GAA credentials of Daly\u2019s wing colleague, Ben O\u2019Connor, are clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He captained Cork to the All-Ireland minor hurling title in 2021, helped St Finbarr\u2019s to a first Cork senior hurling crown in 29 years in 2022, and signed off at the top with an All-Ireland U20 crown in his final game of hurling in June 2023.<\/p>\n
Daly identified a quality carried over from hurling as key to O\u2019Connor\u2019s rugby repertoire.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen would just run all day for you. He’s one of those fellas. He’s got that GAA engine in him, and he’s a great fella to have on your side,\u201d Daly said.<\/p>\n
\n He’s just constantly working and trying to get involved and trying to help you out even when you don’t have the ball, so I can’t give him enough credit for that.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
Daly and O\u2019Connor competed in a cross-code crossbar challenge at the P\u00e1irc alongside Simon Zebo and Fineen Wycherley in the build-up. They each took turns at striking the City End woodwork with a football, rugby ball, and sliotar, with Daly coming out on top in the YouTube video.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was lucky now that Ben didn’t have his best day with the hurley. We’d have been in trouble if he did. That was a bit of craic,\u201d smiled Daly.<\/p>\n
Shane Daly of Munster with family after the Investec Champions Cup match between Munster and Gloucester at SuperValu P\u00e1irc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Niall Scannell has a similar connection to Daly\u2019s. His grandfather, Donal O\u2019Sullivan, captained Cork to the 1956 All-Ireland final, having lifted National League and Munster silverware earlier that summer. O\u2019Sullivan later acted as chairman of the Cork County Board and Munster Council.<\/p>\n
His grandsons, Niall and Rory, once formed a potent Douglas full-forward line alongside future dual star Alan Cadogan.<\/p>\n
Fly-half Jack Crowley grew up wanting to be Joe Deane, but was better at football. In 2017, he won a Premier 2 Minor Football Championship with Valley Rovers. Playing at centre-forward, the Innishannon native scored two goals in the semi-final against Ilen Rovers and a goal against Kilshannig in the final.<\/p>\n
His rugby coach at Bandon Grammar School was Regis Sonnes, who would later lead Toulouse to a Top 14 title and last month took up the role of Spanish women\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n
When Crowley skipped a rugby session for a Valleys hurling match, Sonnes went to Brinny to observe. He later commented: “I saw first-hand the power of hurling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n It is the best game to develop players for rugby.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no shortage of links. Edwin Edogbo won a Sciath na Scol title with Rushbrooke NS at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Rinn. Fineen and Josh Wycherley lined out with St Colum\u2019s. Gavin Coombes fielded for O\u2019Donovan Rossa.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, John Hodnett was nicknamed The Rock, after legendary Rebel full-back Diarmuid O\u2019Sullivan, during his hurling days with Carbery Rangers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Munster Rugby\u2019s visit to SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh carried plenty of Cork GAA links among the matchday squad.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1965,1964,76700,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-201179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-hurling","tag-cork-gaa","tag-cork-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}