Shane Daly Set for 100th Munster Appearance
This weekend’s Investec Champions Cup Round 1 clash with Stade Français at Thomond Park will see Shane Daly make his 100th appearance for Munster.
Shane made his Champions Cup debut away to Racing 92 in January 2020, and it will be in another European fixture against a French side that he will make his 100th appearance for the province.
Daly is a product of Highfield RFC, PBC and Cork Constitution and was promoted to the senior squad in the summer of 2019 after spending three years in the Munster Rugby Academy.
He started for the Ireland U20s in the 2016 Six Nations and U20s World Championship and has also represented the Ireland 7s side.
The Cork native has won a number of senior honours with Cork Con and made his Guinness PRO14 debut against Cheetahs at Thomond Park in September 2018, going on to make six PRO14 appearances over the season.
He made a superb start to the 2019/20 campaign, his first as a member of the senior squad, and won both Player of the Match awards in the first two weeks of the season. Strong performances at full-back later that season saw Daly earn his first Ireland call-up for the rearranged Six Nations games against Italy and France.
Daly made his international debut for Ireland against Georgia in November 2020 and was included in the squad for the 2021 Six Nations. He signed a two-year contract extension in February 2021 and made his second Ireland appearance against Japan in July 2021. He made 16 Munster appearances over the 2021/22 season.
In September 2022 he signed another two year contract extension, and went on to play a fantastic season of rugby, as Munster won the URC. He also made three appearances on the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa in September 2022, and played once for Ireland A.
He continued to play in form the following season, racking up an impressive 1,800 minutes on the field in 24 appearances (23 starts), which won him the URC Ironman for the most minutes played in the 2023/24 season. He missed just 10 minutes of Munster’s 20 URC games. The only two games he missed during the campaign were in the Champions Cup due to knocks.
So far this season he has played four times for Munster, starting on the wing against Connacht and in the centre against Zebre Parma, before sustaining an elbow injury. He returned for the away fixture against DHL Stormers in Cape Town, but a leg knock kept him out of action until last weekend’s Round 7 URC fixture against Emirates Lions. He came off the bench to have an immediate impact as his first touch of the ball resulted in a try.
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