Connolly's back

[pete]

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/4472982.stm)

Getting his game at 5th placed Premierhip team & scoring. I expect he'll start next irish game.

[CraftyToePoke]

but did you see the 3 presentable chances he missed before the pen? all 3 were clear sights of goal about 6 yards out, he kept one down when he should have lifted it, lifted one he should have kept down and shanked one so badly it turned into a square-pass which Mahon(i think) proceeded to fire wide.

a soft pen saved his bacon last night, and ill bet if he gave this performance in a green shirt, minus the pen, you would have your head in your hands ready to kill him with your bare hands.

[as_i_say]

heh it nevers ceases to amaze me the sheer disdain of some towards poor connolly-he is as good (or bad) as robbie but hasnt had half the chances. made some bad club choices imo-wimbledon, feynoord (stayed for the cash i suspect). deserves another go with éire

[Rory H]

he scored 2 goals.and one was a penalty...doyle and keano up front imo

[Stuttgart88]

deserves another go with éire maybe so, but from what I saw it is hard to disagree with Crafty's assessment.

[joema]

he is as good (or bad) as robbie

Are you for real? Robbie has scored more goals than anyone ever for Ireland and I could give you another 100 or so reasons as to why Robbie is a much better player than Connoly.

Conolly did alright last night but for the next game I would definitly pick Doyle ahead of him.

[as_i_say]

[QUOTE=joema]Are you for real? QUOTE]

My girlfriend asks that all the time :eek:

there have been times especially under the mccarthy era where i feel he wasnt given a proper chance. most of his 40 caps would be from friendlies or sub appearances.

I've just always liked the lad-think he really wants to play for us. I'm just saying i hope he's not excluded for the likes of doyle and elliott but should be kept involved when O'neill gets the job.

[youngirish]

It never ceases to amaze me reading some of these posts. He played in a second string Wigan team in the Carling cup after not getting a look in in the premiership all season. He only scored because he took the penalty after Roberts got it.

Connolly is s**te and always has been yet the odd ocassion he scores there are people shouting for him to be put straight back into the Ireland team. He shouldn't even get into the next squad with Doyle starting to establish himself and should now be allowed to gradually fade out from the Irish setup altogether.

[finlma]

you would have your head in your hands ready to kill him with your bare hands.

I agree with my 4 handed friend.

Connolly is useless. Always has been and always will be. I never want to see him in an Irish shirt again. I'll never forgive him for that sending off against Belgium in the World Cup qualifier.

[Tired&Emotional]

A peno in that game last night and "he's back".....not up to scratch for the Intl Team....it's about the BEST available for the team not simply what's available...sorry to state the obvious but sometimes it needs to be done;)

[pete]

Connolly is 1 of 3 irish forwards playing the Premiership. If Morrison was good enough he'd be in the Premiership too. Irish managers pick their squads by choosing all Premiership players first & then seeing how many places left for Championship players - on this basis Connolly has to be in the squad.

[colster]

Connolly is 1 of 3 irish forwards playing the Premiership. If Morrison was good enough he'd be in the Premiership too. Irish managers pick their squads by choosing all Premiership players first & then seeing how many places left for Championship players - on this basis Connolly has to be in the squad.

Connolly is a different player to Morrisson. Morrisson proved in the last campaign that he was a better option than Connolly. Morrisson is a grafter, strong, holds the ball up well, good in the air and chips in with a few goals. He's better than Connolly. Bruce made a big mistake in letting Morrisson go. Forssell and Heskey both scored goals when partnering Morrisson. Connolly is probably a better finisher but Morrisson's all round play adds more to the team.

[thejollyrodger]

i think connolly should be given a run out with ireland again

[colster]

i think connolly should be given a run out with ireland again

Why??

[eirebhoy]

I would have had him as a decent option as back up to Keane but now Elliott is ahead of him. Also want to see Doyle and Trundle get a chance before Connolly in a friendly.

[Havelock Squire]

I agree with my 4 handed friend.

Brilliant stuff!

And Connolly is crap. Lightweight, uninterested, poor finisher - but great if you ever need a gammy hat-trick against Lichtenstein!

[gustavo]

i suppose the hierarchy at the moment is something like
keane
morrison
elliott
doyle
connolly
trundle
macken
doherty (sound of barrell scraping)

[thejollyrodger]

because we have N O B O D Y

[as_i_say]

because we have N O B O D Y

exactly-if the lad is getting some games with wigan then why the hell not. we have a grand total of zero premiership strikers that are getting regular football.

btw heres hoping macken never plays another game for us. bloody mercenary. and sh ite to boot. :cool:

[Tired&Emotional]

I would have had him as a decent option as back up to Keane but now Elliott is ahead of him. Also want to see Doyle and Trundle get a chance before Connolly in a friendly.

Agree with you there....I'd have Keane, Ellliott, Morrison, Doyle and Trundle in the squad and would love to see Doyle and Trundle get a run out in the next game...

[pete]

Connolly was bought by Premiership club so must be getting better?

[Schumi]

Connolly was bought by Premiership club so must be getting better?
Just like Kevin Doyle?

[Tired&Emotional]

He maybe getting better but where was he starting from?

He has only started twice for Wigan so don't think it's the full picture just because he's in the Prem.

There are still players who are ahead of him for an Intl. place based on form, performances and of course as a striker goals!

[Plastic Paddy]

There are still players who are ahead of him for an Intl. place based on form, performances and of course as a striker goals!

And their names are... :rolleyes:

:ball: PP

[klein4]

whats the differance between doyles perfomances now and connollys when he first broke thru?
none.
maybe only that connolly was scoring more goals at watford.
doyle is totally unproven at international level. how everyone is seeing him as been up there as a starter is beyond me. he has the potential to do well but how many have had potential and fallen by the wayside. I hope he does do well but its far from a sure thing at the moment. and if he does fail how long before everyone is takin bout him the same way as they are connolly, o shea, miller, andy reid, morrison,robbie keane et al now....I cant stand the total hype em up and then knock em down culture...ridiculous.

[eirebhoy]

And their names are... :rolleyes:

:ball: PP
Plastic Paddy, always backing the 2G's. ;)

[Plastic Paddy]

Plastic Paddy, always backing the 2G's

My only defence on this one Greg is that I used to coach him at u-14 level...

It took all of thirty seconds to teach him everything I knew. ;) :D

:ball: PP

[Stuttgart88]

There are still players who are ahead of him for an Intl. place based on form, performances and of course as a striker goals!
I hate when people say he should never play for us again. But there are definitely playerts ahaed of him in terms of quality, and one or two who deserve to be looked at ahead of him in the friendlies too.

Connolly is simply too similar in style & stature to what we have already. I'd like to see Trundle tried and if Murphy gets settled for SWFC I can see him being a useful addition to our foward options, simply because he's different to the others and is a far more credible option than Doherty as a tall forward.


I reckon he's about our 7th choice at the moment, with 4 maybe 5 forward slots in any squad.

Keane
Morrison
Elliott
Doyle

Trundle
Daryl Murphy

Connolly

[livehead1]

elliot will be another saddler. it was on sky y'day regarding his 'serious and worrying, mysterious injury problems' ...sumut along them lines anyway

[Slash/ED]

Keane
Morrison
Elliott
Doyle

Trundle
Daryl Murphy

Connolly

Not to don my EL hat again, but how in the name of christ is Daryl Murphy ahead of the better home grown strikers here who were always a better player than he was? If you want an alternative to Doherty as a tall forward then look at the three time in a row top scorer (That's right, even when Doyle and Murphy played here) and record holder for most goals in Europe by a domestic striker...

Does the Doyle move not at least show that people like Byrne deserve more than 15 seconds?

[Stuttgart88]

I was anticipating that response, as you always have to. Of course Doyle's move suggests there's talent in the eL. Who suggested there isn't? The Bohs guy Ward looked good against the Swiss U21s I thought. I'd be interested in seeing how his career progresses.

If there's a better tall forward option than Murphy in the eL then I'd be happy to see him included. I was basing my opinion on Murphy on good under 21 performances, a good performance against Arsenal and a good showing in the Sheffield derby - a higher standard than he'd be used to at home, no?

I agree that Bryne should have seen more than 15 seconds against Poland. Against Greece 3 years ago Glen Crowe was by a country mile a better player than Doherty, but who got a dozen subsequent caps? But I thought Byrne badly fluffed some very good chances against Deportivo and this is what has stuck in my mind.

For what it's worth, from what I've seen of both Kearney & O'Donovan at Cork both look to be as good if not better than higher profile English based players like Flood at the moment, but I think some eL fans should take courses in anger management judging by the posts put up here over the weekend. I think there's also a major tendency to "pre-judge".

[pete]

Connolly played at Liverpool at the weekend again. He has more experience of playing in big games than any other irish forward bar Robbie Keane. Morrison couldn't hack it at the top level so dropped back to the 2nd tier.