IT WAS A goal that had the sense of an announcement to it.
Not the first that Declan Dalton had struck in a senior championship game, that was in the eerie emptiness of Semple Stadium in early November 2020 against Dublin.
Not the first that he had struck this year in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, another ground shot whipped home in the Saturday night league opener against Limerick.
Yet his contribution against Tipperary on a sun-splashed evening two weeks ago felt highly significant.
The game was barely five minutes old, when Dalton intercepted a stray puckout from Barry Hogan and galloped into the corridor of space in the Tipperary defence. The finish was laced with skill, the ball deposited in the net.
That set the tone for a display of influence throughout, a blend of hard graft and crisp striking making him a dominant performer. He nailed one free from a mammoth distance late on to level the game, a last-gasp chance to be the match-winner in a similar scenario, saw his shot carry the distance but just lack the direction.
The miss could not obscure his overall impact. It was a breakout game for the Fr O’Neills clubman, but to enjoy an evening like that required patience and painstaking effort.
Denis Ring managed Dalton as a minor for Cork in 2015 and U21 in 2018.
“Anybody that knows him is absolutely delighted for him because he’s a really nice guy. I think Pat Ryan and these guys (in his management). they have confidence in him and believe in him and that does an awful lot for him.
“I found that at U21 level with us, he was fantastic to have and very easy to deal with. I must say I’ve enjoyed texting him around these games. You genuinely would be so happy for him because he’s gone the circuitous route.”
That gets to the heart of the matter. Dalton’s inter-county development has not been linear. Dalton’s contemporaries at underage level included Mark Coleman, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Kingston. The step up for him was not as rapid as it was for others.
Back to that minor grade. Cork lost a Munster semi-final that year to Limerick with Dalton their goalkeeper, his talent had been spotted in Dr Harty Cup action for Youghal’s Pobalscoil Na Tríonóide.
“The argument always was to have him in goal or outfield. Robbie, his father, would have been very instrumental in developing him as a player. He’s a really positive influence on Deccy.
“He was an awesome goalkeeper because his touch and control, and his puckouts were exceptionally good.”
By the time that Cork group reached U21 in 2018, they won Munster and featured in an All-Ireland final. Dalton was an attacking focal point for them.
The previous year, in July 2017, he rocketed home a penalty for a dramatic winning goal for Cork against Waterford in a Munster U21 semi-final in Walsh Park.
John Meyler, the Cork manager of that team, had pushed for Dalton to be used in the forwards.
“Dalton was the third-choice goalkeeper for the seniors that year,” wrote Meyler in his autobiography.
“There was an under-21 challenge against Limerick up in Martinstown earlier in summer. I was away with the seniors but told the lads to put Dalton in the forwards if they were stuck. I’d seen him play there for his club Fr O’Neills, a brilliant striker of the ball.
“We’d a meeting every Monday night in the River Lee Hotel on the Western Road. At our next gathering all the lads were raving about Dalton as a forward. So we played him there against Waterford and he scored 1-12 to win us the match.”
When Ring took charge in 2018, he knew Dalton’s talents were set to be unleashed in the forward line.
“I was mad about Deccy, thought he was an absolutely fantastic guy,” recalls Ring.
“You arrived to a training session and you always think you’re going to be there first, because you’re in the manager’s role.
“And Deccy would always be there before you anyway. I remember he’d be hitting a ball against the wall. Hitting the ball against the wall or practicing frees and he’d be testing himself the whole time.
“His touch, his skill level is of a very high order and he’s always working in terms of improving and developing himself.”
Emerging from the underage ranks, there was flashes of scoring magic at senior. Ring recalls a memorable point in a senior round-robin game against Limerick in 2019. Dalton launched over an insurance score in the extra-time All-Ireland semi-final epic against Kilkenny in 2021.
But there were struggles to contend with. A knee operation was necessitated in the spring of 2019. He suffered a foot injury in the autumn 2021 that sidelined him for an extended period. Last year he was not part of the Cork senior setup’s plans.
If there was a question mark about him, it surrounded his pace and athleticism for the elite level of the game.
“There was a question mark. That’s something that he’s taken on board and has done an awful lot of work in improving it, because there came a point where Deccy himself felt he wanted to be outfield. To do that required him to look at from a strength and conditioning point of view going on to another level.
“We brought in Stephen Casey, a strength and conditioning guy at U21 level and Deccy would have had him. Fortunately, it’s good that there’s that continuity that Steven now is with the senior as well.
“I know the likes of Stephen Casey would be particularly good in that area in developing the likes of Deccy, would see him as a very important project.
“And I think that Deccy, as much as anybody else, answered the question as to whether he should be a goalie or not because he went about the whole business of improving himself physically.
“What’s not incorporated is a capacity to read the game and to buy a couple of yards. He’s a brilliant hand, extremely courageous.
“I think personally, there was too much made of the fact of people questioning his pace, you know, and it might have played on him a little bit. He’s answered that.”
There had been several seasons where Dalton illuminated the local hurling scene in Cork. He won three county senior medals with divisional outfit Imokilly – in goal for their 2017 triumph, a forward sub in 2018 and then the provider of 1-7 in the 2019 decider against Glen Rovers.
With his own club Fr O’Neills he amassed no shortage of accolades. Their intermediate A final win in 2016 saw him register 1-8.
He fired 1-11 when they were crowned premier intermediate champions in 2019, later scoring 2-4 in an All-Ireland final thriller as they were narrowly defeated by Kilkenny’s Tullaroan.
Last year they lifted the senior A crown and Dalton notched 0-7 in the final.
The dizzying scoring returns are of little surprise to Ring.
“He has tremendous self belief. If the shot is on, he’ll take it and he’ll commit to it. His strike is unbelievable whether it’s with the wind or against the wind because he rifles the ball. There’s venom on the ball when he strikes it.
“That’s from hours and hours of work. I don’t think people realise how much he puts into his game. his wrists are unreal.
“He has Hoggy’s obsession to that degree, you know, in the sense that the power and the wrist. Hoggy’s wrists are exceptional.”
This season has seen him issue statements. In the league he got that vital goal against Limerick and rifled over eight points against Galway.
In the Munster championship he played from the off against Waterford, his first start since the Dublin qualifier of 2020, and retained his place for the Tipperary game, entrusted with long-range freetaking duties in both ties.
The Cork management’s faith has been rewarded. Fergal Condon worked with him previously for Imokilly, Donal O’Mahony with the Cork U21 camp in 2017.
Today against Clare, Dalton will be important for Cork again.
“He’s a fantastic guy,” says Ring.
“The last couple of years, the timing of injuries and things like that wouldn’t have been helpful. He’s had setbacks but far from making him weaker, they’ve made him appreciate it all that more. The technical ability he has, I think people don’t fully appreciate it.
“He’s very, very serious about what he’s doing.
“Everybody loves to see the guy who goes the hard route and the long route.”
