William John Daly (25 January 1925 – 29 November 2017) was an Irish hurler and coach who played as a centre-forward for the Cork senior team.
As a member of the Munster inter-provincial team on a number of occasions Daly won three Railway Cup medals.
Cloughduv provided the opposition, however, three goals in the opening quarter put Carrig into a commanding position they never relinquished.
Carrig played with the wind in the first half and opened the scoring with a left-handed point from over sixty yards by Daly.
Not only did Daly collect a second championship medal in that grade but he also had the honour of lifting the cup as captain of the team.
Daly first played for Cork as a member of the junior hurling team on 25 May 1947 in a 3–10 to 2–1 Munster quarter-final defeat of Kerry.
His performances during the junior campaign saw Daly drafted onto the Cork senior panel for an All-Ireland showdown with Kilkenny on 7 September 1947.
He was at left wing-forward for the subsequent final against Tipperary, and collected his first National League medal after Cork's 3–3 to 1–2 victory.
On 18 July 1948 Daly made a goal-scoring senior championship debut in a 5–3 to 2–5 Munster semi-final defeat of Limerick.
After the match at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin a fight broke out when another Galway player struck Cork's Christy Ring.
[6][7] Cork secured a third successive provincial title in 1954, with Daly collecting a third Munster medal following a narrow 2–8 to 1–8 defeat of Tipperary.
A 5–5 to 3–5 defeat of Limerick, courtesy of a hat trick of goals by Christy Ring, secured a fourth Munster medal in five seasons for Daly.
The game has gone down in history as one of the all-time classics as Christy Ring was bidding for a record ninth All-Ireland medal.
The game turned on one important incident as the Wexford goalkeeper, Art Foley, made a miraculous save from a Ring shot and cleared the sliotar up the field to set up another attack.
[9][10] Cork surrendered their Munster title to an up-and-coming Waterford team in 1957, bringing the curtain down on Daly's inter-county career.
Two years later Daly was a key member of the starting fifteen as Munster faced Leinster in the decider once again.
Championship success eluded Cork during his tenure, however, Daly steered the team to a fourth league title in six years in 1974 following a 6–15 to 1–12 defeat of Limerick.