'To go 23 years without winning one is a fair drought'- St Joseph's Brian Daly hoping to rewrite the record books

St Joseph’s Brian Daly will go into Sunday’s Laois Football county final hoping to break a 23-year drought since his club last lifted the Jack Delaney Cup. 

The Kellyville outfit lost out in the quarter-finals of last year’s competition to O’Dempsey’s having held a three-point lead with a man advantage but couldn’t get over the line. Daly said the team used that as their motivation going into this season.

“We thought we were in a great position going into that game, but for one reason or another we let it slip and O’Dempsey’s took advantage. We knew ourselves that was something to drive us on this year.”

St Joseph’s have had a great record in the league but when it comes to the championship, they’ve run out of steam and Daly is hoping that they can shake off that title sooner rather than later.

“We always get a bit of stick about being a good league team so we’re getting a bit sick of that title so whether we won or lost that final there were bigger things to do.”

This Sunday will be the second time that Portlaoise have faced Joseph’s in the championship and Daly knows to take nothing for granted.

“It was big, we hadn’t beaten them in 20 years but we just took it as a match. We didn’t delve too much into it and they’re a different animal to what they were.”

“We were fairly happy with the performance. We thought we under performed in the first three matches, we weren’t happy with anything that went on. The fact that we got over the line by two points in each of them was something different to what St Joseph’s have been doing recently. Last year we let it slip against O'Dempsey's so it was nice to change the narrative.”

Daly operated at full-forward against Portarlington as he slotted over four points all from his weaker left-foot. 

“I don’t know if I’d say I’m fit now, but it’s nice to get on the scoreboard. The lads are doing plenty of work outside so you have to try to keep them going over the bar.”

The St Joseph’s star was involved with Billy Sheehan and the Laois team but wasn’t given much of a chance to impress as he found his time limited to substitute appearances.

“Maybe I wasn’t showing it in training or whatever reason the lads had. I didn't see a whole lot of time. I wouldn’t really focus on the past, I’m more so looking forward to the match on Sunday and trying to stay positive about it.”

The club are competing in the Senior final for the first time since 2002, where they played the same opposition, and Daly says now is the time that they end their Championship drought.

“It’s a club that’s hungry for success at adult level. We’ve always done well enough at underage but to bring it through to adult is always something difficult. For a team that started winning championships, averaging one every three years to go 23 years without winning one is a fair drought.”

In terms of their preparation, Daly says the team is thinking of it like any other game and that a strong performance is needed in order to get over the line.

“We take every game like it’s a first or second round, it’s only another game. We focus on the performance and everything else looks after itself.”