The Thistle Archive

This Dublin-born centre back grew up in Celbridge, and attended Salesian College. As a youth, Daniel played for Cherry Orchard before being signed by the Fulham Academy in November 2010, aged 15. In 2012, whilst at Fulham, he was selected for the Republic of Ireland U17 team's qualifying game against Kazakhstan, but was an unused sub. Daniel stayed at Fulham for four years, broken only by a short loan stint with Walton Casuals early in 2014. After being released by Fulham he had a brief stay at Southern Premier League Hereford United in 2014 before the club collapsed. On the lookout for something better, Daniel spent just 4 weeks with Conference side Bishop's Stortford at the end of 2014, before returning home to Ireland, signing for Alan Mathews at Bray Wanderers. He was a regular under Matthews and his successor Tarnogrodzki and played in the first 11 league games (Ireland following the 'summer football' calendar). However, the constant change of management saw Daniel make only 3 more appearances, almost an ever-present on the bench as Bray finished 8th in the Premier Division.

As 2015 turned into 2016, Daniel spent 4 weeks of the Irish "off season" playing in the Athletic Union League with O’Devaney Dunard, before signing for the 2016 season with Longford Town. Daniel moved back over to England in July 2016 and spent a number of months with Eastbourne Borough of the National League South, before returning once again to play with Longford Town, where he'd settle for two full seasons, 2017 and 2018, his first real extended period anywhere. He switched to Finn Harps for the 2019 season, where he was voted Supporter's Player of the Year. An indifferent season at Shelbourne followed and, in December 2020, Daniel moved to the recently crowned First Division champions Drogheda United, ahead of their first season back in the Premier Division. At United, he was voted Club Player of the Year in what proved to be his only season at the club.

At that stage, Danniel had several offers from Irish clubs on the table, but he was keen to try his hand in British football again and, in the January transfer window of 2020, his agent got him fixed up in the Scottish Championship with Hamilton Accies. He played over 60 times for the New Douglas Park side, scoring 6 goals in the process, 2 of which were against Thistle. The Irishman was part of the squad which lifted the SPFL Trust Trophy. In November 2023, after having spent quite a few months as a free agent, Daniel was pleased to sign a short-term deal with Raith Rovers. He played a leading role in a 7 goal Stark's Park thriller against Thistle in December 2023, putting Rovers one up, and also scoring an own goal (thanks to McInroy's great cross) that put Thistle back on the comeback trail at 1-2. 4-3 Rovers was how it finished. Just 4 weeks later, Daniel signed an 18 month deal with Partick Thistle - it's a funny ol' game! Speaking on the club website, manager Kris Doolan was very pleased with the business done:

We’re delighted to pick up a player of such quality in the notoriously difficult January transfer window. He is proven at this level and adds real quality to our squad. Getting Daniel tied down on an 18 month contract is fantastic for us as we look to build for the end of the current campaign and into the next. We identified that we needed defensive cover as Nathan McGinley went back to Motherwell following his loan spell, and to be able to get Daniel in the building so quickly shows our ambition to challenge at the top end of the table. As a team who aim to score as many goals as we can, Daniel adds quality in both boxes, having already scored at against us this season, and twice last season.

Away from the football, Daniel is a qualified gym instructor and personal trainer.