Daire Ó Baoill

Daire Ó Baoill
Personal information
Sport Gaelic football
Born 1996/7[1]
Club(s)
Years Club
201?–
 Gaoth Dobhair
Club titles
Donegal titles 1
Ulster titles 1
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
201?–
 Donegal
Ulster titles 2

Daire Ó Baoill (born 1996/7)[1] is an Irish Gaelic footballer and former association footballer who plays for Gaoth Dobhair and the Donegal county team.

Ó Baoill previously played association football with the under-19 team of League of Ireland side Finn Harps. He works in Teach Mhicí, a pub owned by the family of Gaoth Dobhair teammate Kevin Cassidy.[2] He is a cousin of Naoise Ó Baoill.[3][4]

Playing career

Ó Baoill played for the Finn Harps under-19 team[1] for three years and captained the Republic of Ireland under-18 national football team.[clarification needed][2] He did so to improve his football, as he explained in 2018:

I knew at the end of the day it would be GAA, that's why I played as much soccer as I could. Two years ago I remember going from one game playing from Harps, I think we beat Bohemians 3–1, and then I had to line out in championship for Gaoth Dobhair against Termon. We lost to Termon in the last group stage game. You're going from game to game and I just knew the legs wouldn't be able to do that for much longer. The manager I had at Finn Harps, Joe Boyle, he was a Gaelic man too at heart and he understood the decision at the end of the day. He'd still be getting onto me and things like that.[2]

His decision to play for the north-western based Finn Harps under-19 team was also influenced by his studies at Maynooth University, where he was within reach of teams such as Wexford or Cork City, and would often travel south to make up the squad numbers.[1]

Club

Ó Baoill was part of a side that went undefeated from the under-16 until the under-21 levels.[1]

Ó Baoill won a Donegal Senior Football Championship medal with his club in 2018, scoring two points in the final.[5]

He then played during Gaoth Dobhair's first ever Ulster Senior Club Football Championship-winning campaign later in 2018, scoring a first-half hat-trick of goals (including a penalty kick) to defeat eleven-time Ulster championship winners Crossmaglen Rangers in the semi-final at Healy Park in Omagh.[1][6]

Ó Baoill then played in Gaoth Dobhair's final defeat of Scotstown (who had won the competition on four previous occasions), also at Healy Park.[7]

Inter-county

Ó Baoill featured at minor and under-21 level for his county under the management of Declan Bonner.[1]

With Bonner taking over the senior team following the departure of Rory Gallagher, Ó Baoill made a substitute appearance against Tyrone during Donegal's Division One campaign in the 2018 National Football League.[8] It was his only appearance for Donegal during that league campaign.[1]

Ó Baoill went on to make five senior championship appearances for Donegal in 2018.[1] The first of these was a substitute appearance against Derry in the quarter-final of the 2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship — a match in which, despite being only on the field of play for little over ten minutes, he provided the pass to Cian Mulligan that led to Mulligan scoring Donegal's second goal of the game.[9] Ó Baoill made another substitute appearance in the semi-final win over Down,[10] likewise in the final, as Donegal secured that year's championship.[11]

Donegal qualified for the 2019 National Football League Division 2 final and Ó Baoill started the game as Donegal defeated Meath to win the title.[12]

Ó Baoill came on as a substitute in the final of the 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship against Cavan, scoring one point and claiming his second Ulster senior title.[13] He started against Fermanagh in the quarter-final and was a substitute in the semi-final win over Tyrone.[14][15]

Personal life

Ó Baoill was "away" for some of his club's 2023 season.[16]

Honours

Donegal
Gaoth Dobhair

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i O'Brien, Kevin (29 November 2018). "Working in Kevin Cassidy's bar, playing League of Ireland and his hat-trick against Crossmaglen: 21-year-old Gweedore midfielder Daire Ó Baoill is hoping to lift an Ulster club title on Sunday". The42.ie. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c McIntyre, Niall (2018). "Daire Ó Baoill: The Ireland captain who was never going to stay with soccer". JOE.ie. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Three years a Finn Harps player and once an Irish under 18s captain, he could easily have kept up the soccer and left the GAA behind.
  3. ^ McNulty, Chris (3 December 2018). "'Just get the ball and run' — Naoise Ó Baoill and the journey from there to here". Archived from the original on 6 December 2018.
  4. ^ McIntyre, Niall (2018). "The story of Gaoth Dobhair's centre forward: Born in Letterkenny, raised in Japan and Australia". JOE.ie. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b Campbell, Peter (21 October 2018). "Gaoth Dobhair end 12 years of pain with dominant display". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
  6. ^ Mooney, Francis (18 November 2018). "Gaoth Dobhair on the goal trail to book maiden Ulster final spot". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018.
  7. ^ a b Mooney, Francis (2 December 2018). "Gaoth Dobhair edge out Scotstown in extra-time to win historic Ulster title". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018.
  8. ^ Bogue, Declan (10 March 2018). "Two-goal Tyrone move closer to safety with big win over Donegal in Omagh". The42.ie. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018.
  9. ^ Mooney, Francis (27 May 2018). "McBrearty excels to fire Donegal past Derry". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018.
  10. ^ Mooney, Francis (10 June 2018). "14-man Donegal cruise past Down into Ulster decider". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018.
  11. ^ a b Mooney, Francis (24 June 2018). "Energetic Donegal end Fermanagh's Ulster title dream". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  12. ^ a b O'Brien, Kevin (30 March 2019). "Murphy masterclass helps Donegal to Division 2 glory after comeback win over Meath". The42.ie. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  13. ^ a b Sweeney, Peter (23 June 2019). "Donegal power past Cavan to claim Ulster title". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  14. ^ Mooney, Francis (26 May 2019). "Donegal overcome Fermanagh in Ulster arm-wrestle". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  15. ^ Mooney, Francis (8 June 2019). "Donegal power past Tyrone to make Ulster decider". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  16. ^ Ferry, Ryan (19 October 2023). "Fine first year for [Ronan] Mac Niallais". Donegal News. p. 68. Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhríde and a couple of their reserve players headed off to America during the summer, while the likes of Niall Friel, Kieran Gillespie, Gary McFadden, and Seaghan Ferry, also did some travelling before the championship. Daire Ó Baoill was away for a while but came back for the championship, but that lift was somewhat cancelled out by the fact that Cian Mulligan emigrated.