Clontarf’s Daniel Hawkshaw looks for redemption in AIL final against St Mary’s

Daniel Hawkshaw was an unused part of the Clontarf squad when they beat Dublin rivals Terenure in the 2022 final, so to play in this Sunday’s Energia All-Ireland League (AIL) final against the city’s St Mary’s College at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 4pm, live TG4) would complete quite a four-year rollercoaster.

If so, he’ll also be the first of the three Hawkshaw brothers to play in an AIL final. Memorably, he did play alongside his two older siblings, James and David, against Co Down side Ballynahinch at the end of that 2021-22 season, when at one point Clontarf led 20-0 and the three brothers had accounted for all the points.

Their sister Sarah is part of the Irish women’s hockey team who have qualified for the World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands next August. She plays for Belgian club Braxgata.

Hawkshaw can’t really explain why his family are so sporty, but hazards a guess.

“My parents [Anne and Seán] played badminton at a high enough level. My mum’s from Limerick and she came up to Leinster and my dad played in Leinster as well. My mum was an international and we were always involved in sports. My grandad would have been a [Gaelic] footballer,” he says of Mick Hawkshaw, who was part of Galway’s first All-Ireland minor football triumph in 1952.

[ St Mary’s captain Conor Dean aims to cap ‘incredibly exciting’ week with AIL final victory ]

“I think he retired when he was quite young, when he was around 23, and then he played a lot of golf.”

From Castleknock, Co Dublin, Hawkshaw emulated his brothers in also playing hurling for St Brigid’s – David captained the Dublin minors – and he followed his brothers to mini-rugby in Coolmine and then the city’s Belvedere College. In Hawkshaw’s first three years at Belvedere, David was the outhalf and star turn in the triumphs of 2016 and 2017 before captaining them to a losing final in 2018.

James had played plenty of J1 rugby in Clontarf before stopping at the end of last season. “He’s a photographer now and he broke his arm last year, which obviously wasn’t ideal. So he stepped back.”

Although Covid clipped Hawkshaw’s own senior schools cup years as a 10 or 12, he emulated David in playing for the Ireland Under-20s, once in the 17-16 win away to France en route to the 2022 Grand Slam and was then ever-present at inside centre in all four games of the 2022 Summer Series, which replaced the World Cup.

“But it was in Verona, which is such a cool place. It was good craic, the weather was good and we were playing nice rugby.”

Ireland lost 42-21 to a French team containing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Nicolas Depoortère and Émilien Gailleton and 33-24 to a South African side with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at outhalf, before winning 37-36 against an England side including Fin Smith and Chandler Cunningham-South and beating Scotland 41-24.

Hawkshaw also emulated David in moving to Galway for three seasons in the Connacht academy. “We were living together and I loved living in Galway. In Castleknock going into town is a day out, but over there you could walk everywhere. It’s a pretty city, the people are friendly and when the weather is nice there’s nowhere better.”

Hawkshaw played one preseason friendly against Sale and several Connacht Eagles games, and some AIL matches for Buccaneers. He was also brought into the Ireland Sevens for its final World Series last year when an injured spectator in the Vancouver leg before playing in Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles.

“It was unfortunate what happened to the Sevens, but it was a class experience. In such a small group, it’s so different because everyone’s so close.”

But this time a year ago Hawkshaw was being released by Connacht.

“Yeah, it hurt, and especially as I did my shoulder in literally my last game, an A game, so it was a double whammy. A lot of my mates were going on holidays for the summer, which I couldn’t really do because I was in a sling.”

Relocating to Clontarf was a no-brainer given his previous time there and so many ties such as Under-20s team-mate Dylan O’Grady.

“It was a long summer trying to get back fit, but Clontarf is such a professional set-up, and when you’ve lads like Dylan [Donnellan], Conor Kelly and Gilly [Fionn Gilbert] to set high standards, you can see slip right back into it,” Hawkshaw says.

He’s also overcome an ankle operation to become a regular starter for Clontarf in the second half of the season and has just finished his studies in media and international development.

His brothers and parents will be in the Aviva on Sunday as Clontarf seek to complete a double after beating Ballynahinch in the Bateman Cup final last December.

“We played St Mary’s first and last, and they beat us both times, and I know a few lads on their team and they’ve some savage players. To get to the final is a tribute to the squad because we’ve had so many injuries.

“I was injured for the [Bateman] Cup final, so to be picked and go all the way would be pretty cool.”

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