Daire Ó Baoill (born 1996/7) is an Irish Gaelic footballer and former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er who plays for

Gaoth Dobhair Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Croll ...

and the Donegal county team. Ó Baoill previously played association football with the under-19 team of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

side

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

. He works in

Teach Mhicí Teach Mhicí is an Irish pub in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. It is currently operated by members of the family of and in-laws of the Gaoth Dobhair and Donegal Gaelic footballer Kevin Cassidy. Cassidy's father-in-law, the former Donegal foo ...

, a pub owned by the family of Gaoth Dobhair teammate

Kevin Cassidy Kevin Cassidy (born 1981) is an Irish-Scottish Gaelic footballer, businessperson, columnist and commentator. Though born in Glasgow, Scotland, he has been living in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal from a young age. Cassidy plays his club footbal ...

. He is a cousin of Naoise Ó Baoill.

Playing career

Ó Baoill played for the Finn Harps under-19 team for three years and captained the Republic of Ireland under-18 national football team. He did so to improve his football, as he explained in 2018: His decision to play for the north-western based Finn Harps under-19 team was also influenced by his studies at

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It w ...

, where he was within reach of teams such as

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's ...

, and would often travel south to make up the squad numbers.

Club

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

Donegal Senior Football Championship The Donegal Senior Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal SFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA and contested by the highest-level clubs, to determine the best team in County Donegal. Since 2016, it has been known ...

medal with his club in

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, scoring two points in the final. He then played during Gaoth Dobhair's first ever

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

-winning campaign later in

, scoring a first-half

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of goals (including a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

) to defeat eleven-time Ulster championship winners

Crossmaglen Rangers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, Raonaithe na Croise) is a GAA club in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They cater for Gaelic football and camogie. Their home football ground is St. Oliver Plunkett Park, which was op ...

in the semi-final at

Healy Park Healy Park (known as O'Neills Healy Park for sponsorship reasons) is a GAA stadium in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and is named after a GAA clubman from Omagh, Michael Healy. Healy Park is the home ground of Omagh St. Enda's and th ...

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 m ...

. Ó Baoill then played in Gaoth Dobhair's final defeat of

Scotstown Scotstown () is a village in the townland of Bough () in north County Monaghan, Ireland. Scotstown is located in the parish of Tydavnet, along the Monaghan Blackwater, Scotstown being the village closest to the river's source. Scotstown is ce ...

(who had won the competition on four previous occasions), also at Healy Park.

Inter-county

Ó Baoill featured at minor and under-21 level for his county under the management of

Declan Bonner Declan Bonner (born 11 August 1965) is an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played at senior level for the Donegal county team, winning an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1992. He later managed the Donegal county team for ...

. With Bonner taking over the senior team following the departure of

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

, Ó Baoill made a substitute appearance against Tyrone during Donegal's Division One campaign in the 2018 National Football League. It was his only appearance for Donegal during that league campaign. Ó Baoill went on to make five senior championship appearances for Donegal in 2018. The first of these was a substitute appearance against Derry in the quarter-final of the

2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 130th instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2018 All-Ireland 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. Ó Baoill made another substitute appearance in the semi-final win over Down, likewise in the final, as Donegal secured that year's championship. 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. Ó Baoill came on as a substitute in the final of the

2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 131st instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

against Cavan, scoring one point and claiming his second Ulster senior title. He started against

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), 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 a ...

in the quarter-final and was a substitute in the semi-final win over Tyrone.

Personal life

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

Honours

;Donegal *

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is ...

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* National Football League Division 2:

;Gaoth Dobhair *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obaoill, Daire 1990s births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Finn Harps F.C. players Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaoth Dobhair Gaelic footballers League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football players not categorized by position Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Association footballers from County Donegal