Omar Daley had spent some 13 years as a member of Jamaica’s national football set-up after making his debut as a 19-year-old in 2000.

During those early days, the highlight of the emerging Clarendon-born is earning a place on the historic team to the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Argentina in 2001.

Daley’s career as an international had started at a fast pace, similarly to his playing style where he used lightning speed to get him up the field as quickly as possible.

With some 75 games and seven goals under his braces as a senior Reggae Boy, Daley believed he had a full career and a longevity that few others can boast.

In his view, the roller-coaster ride came with few, if any, regrets.

“I made my debut for the senior team very young after being selected by Clovis de Oliveira during a pick-up friendly in Clarendon. That was very big for me.

“What I did for myself as a young player was to look around at the national players before me, and what I tried to do is go off players and what they were doing wrong and try not to do it and then follow the path of the players who were doing the right things.

“What I did was look at overseas players like Deon Burton, Jamie Lawrence, and all these players coming in. I looked at the way they trained, the way they carried themselves and the way they spoke, and doing what was right, is one of the reasons why I lasted so long in the national team and ended up getting into Europe, which gave me a bigger push,” Daley recalled.

The 39-year-old, who lives in Las Vegas in the USA, said he was able to keep his place in the team because he remained “relevant” throughout his career.

“I think I got my fair share of the national team, and I think I put myself in that position to get a fair share because I remained very relevant and active club wise, meaning I am always making moves and getting clubs, playing overseas, and even locally, I was winning the [Jamaican] Premier League,” said Daley, a former Portmore United midfielder.

In the same breath, the former Bradford City regular rued the manner in which he was pushed to the side as he mellowed with age.

“At the back end of my career, I thought the national team could have managed me a little better in terms of not telling me that I was getting to a certain age, and that they are going to move on and will be looking at other players, and that was something I didn’t like.

“I do believe that there was more in my tank that I could have given to the national team. I was basically forced at that time to call time on my international career. I thought to myself that if I am getting older and wiser, then that would be an opportunity to use me better to play more games, because on the other side they were using me to play lots of game when I was younger and inexperienced,” Daley reasoned.

He said he would have wanted the chance to see what kind of player he would have been for the national team as he pushed on in his 30s.

“I am a little torn between whether I could have done more towards the back end of my career, or when I was young and was still trying to figure it out,” Daley noted.

The former Preston North End’s on-loan winger said as a Jamaica player, sometimes he was left to ponder how he was used, even when his former teammate and “friend” Theodore Whitmore was coach.

“I can recall one moment when I scored one of the best goals at the [2011] Gold Cup against Grenada, and the next game I didn’t play a minute, so that was a bit discouraging to be honest.

“But now that I am a full-time coach, I understand better as maybe the coach had a different plan for the next game. But I forgave Theodore Whitmore as I was angry at him at the time, having scored a beautiful goal and never played the next game. I am over it, but at that time, it crushed me,” rued Daley.

But even when the dominoes did not fall in his favour, Daley said one of the greatest experiences in his life was representing the national football team and would do it all over again even though it was not always a smooth ride.

“I proud to say that I played in the national team for over a decade and must say that I never looked back from I played that game in Jamalco, Carendon. I have to salute the players who helped paved my path like Donovan Ricketts, Ricardo Gardner and Peter Cargill.

“I have absolutely no regrets playing for the national team, and I don’t know what I could have done better. I was fortunate to have made it to the youth World Cup, I played in World Cup qualifiers, I made wonderful friends, so in the end I have no regrets when it comes to my international career,” he noted.

Daley, who is today coaching grass roots football in the USA, remembers that one of the greatest feelings he had as a Jamaica international was wearing the national shirt and listen to the playing of the National Anthem.

“When you put on the national colours and the National Anthem is playing before a game, I think that was the proudest moment for me as a player; just to represent the country and knowing that everyone in Jamaica is going to know you.

“Some people will tell you about a goal that you missed, a tackle that you made, or some game you played in, but that’s for the fans to say, but for me, every single game counts whether it’s a friendly or a Gold Cup game. The national team gave me so much exposure that I was able to see China, Japan, Nigeria, you name it. I will always be grateful for the national team,” beamed the Glenmuir High graduate.