The Eire U20 international, who beat the deadline to join Torquay until 24th April on loan, is out of contract in the summer, but feels that he has something to offer the club - if he can only show what he is worth in competitive action down on the south coast.
Or, more immediately, for the Gulls at Darlington on Saturday - "just the 24 hour drive, then!" - he quips.
It could, though, have been so different for Daryl, who nearly joined Swansea on loan, and he reveals:
"Leroy Rosenior has been phoning up the club for the last three weeks about me, I believe.
"But I went to Swansea last week, and I was due to sign for them on Thursday - but the manager, Bryan Flynn, got the sack.
"So I spoke to Leroy on Friday, came down Sunday, trained Monday, and played a game on Tuesday before signing on Wednesday.
"I expected I would have to go back to West Ham for the rest of the season when it fell through at Swansea."
Had Daryl made it to Wales, he would have completed a quartet of former West Ham players with fellow Irishman Shaun Byrne, Izzie Iriekpen, and Leon Britton all there.
"I stayed with Shaun for the week, and saw Izzie and Leon Britton who are there as well," he says.
"There a quite a few ex-West Ham there - they are taking over."
What those three have found, and Daryl is discovering, is that making the final push into the first team is the hardest leap of all.
"I just want to play; there is no point in me playing reserves any more, I have been doing that for three years now and I don't benefit from it any longer," he says.
"League football will make me stronger - as a player and as a person.
"Alan has said he will have someone keep an eye on me at Torquay and we will see what happens.
"You lose a bit of an edge in the reserves where it is not really as competitive as it should be, really.
"When you play against some teams they are just strolling it, not taking it as a serious game, and you are trying to prove a point to people, and impress them, and it is quite hard sometimes in those situations.
"I have been thinking about this for quite a while, how to kick start my career and further myself.
"It has gone a bit dead at the moment at West Ham so this is a good chance."
If Daryl can catch the eye he feels he may warrant another contract at Upton Park - but he knows that, at 21, time is of the essence.
"If I have to move on, I have to move on but obviously I have got a lot of friends here - it is my fifth season at the club," he says.
"I have gone through the youth teams and been captain of the 17s and 19s when they have got to the semi-finals so I have had a really good time.
"But there is no point in hanging about if you are not playing.
"There are a lot of good players at the club but I haven't been given a game so I feel I can't be criticised.
"I have got a point to prove; I want to show that I am good enough to be a West Ham player, because that is what I left home to become.
"I want to play as well as I can and prove to everyone at the club that I deserve a place in West Ham's team."
* Former coach Paul Goddard is scouting for the club he came to West Ham from, Ipswich Town.