David Connolly

**pete** · 28/02/2007, 10:23 AM

I am thinking of proposing that anyone who thinks Connolly worthy of another Ireland cap be ejected from this site as would be better off moving to a putt.ie to discuss golf.

**tetsujin1979** · 28/02/2007, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by pete

I am thinking of proposing that anyone who thinks Connolly worthy of another Ireland cap be ejected from this site as would be better off moving to a putt.ie to discuss golf.

On current form, who would you have ahead of him?
Keane's only just started scoring, Doyle is just back from injury, Stokes is in and out of the side at Sunderland, Clinton is back scoring for Palace (after a long period out of favor), Keogh hasn't scored since moving to Sunderland, Murphy is not getting games.
Connolly has scored a goal every other game he's played for Sunderland since November, and certainly deserves his place in the squad

**pete** · 28/02/2007, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

On current form, who would you have ahead of him?

In no particular order
- Keane, Doyle, Morrison, Stokes, Long, Keogh, Ward, Byrne, Crowe, O'Donovan, Doherty, Elliot, Reid, Duff.

When Connolly was crap for Ireland he always looked good in the Championship. Once he moves up a level he has always been crap & always will be. He was consistently crap for Ireland excluding the odd ok game which is why managers have consistently ignored him. He gets sent off in important games & moans to the media when omitted from squads.

**tetsujin1979** · 28/02/2007, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by pete

In no particular order
- Keane, Doyle, Morrison, Stokes, Long, Keogh, Ward, Byrne, Crowe, O'Donovan, Doherty, Elliot, Reid, Duff.

Read my question again - on current form, who would you have ahead of him?
Apart from Keane, and possibly Ward, none of those are in any sort of form at the moment.
Doherty is not a striker, end of story
Elliot is out after an ankle operation
Reid is still out with a hamstring (I'm presuming Andy Reid)
Duff has been shown to be woefully ineffective up front, compared to his impact in a game playing on the wing

**FootballsKing** · 28/02/2007, 12:25 PM

stokes had a good game against Birmingham and the only reasons he has been in and out of the team have been due to injury and more recently due to a training time mix up. anyone want to offer me odds on Connolly being shipped out to Watford when Sunderland go up in the summer. And when watford go up the following season he will be sold again to whoever gets relegated from the premiership. Simply put Connolly is a genius at Championship level and a mug at any level above that.

**Billsthoughts** · 28/02/2007, 12:25 PM

wasnt connolly the player who asked for keane to be brought back in saipan?
wonder does keane feel he owes him.
you should pick the form players.
connolly has done no worse or no better than robbie keane and keane seems to be totally undroppable while connolly cant make a squad.
would pick him and put him on the bench with doyle up front and robbie or andy reid playing in front of the midfield.
connolly might offer something coming off the bench. he cant have too many complaints about not starting as he has been given a lot of chances and apart from once v romania away he has never really took them.
but if he is scoring goals he should be able to make the squad. offers more than alan o brien.

**as_i_say** · 28/02/2007, 12:48 PM

yeah apparently they were good buds during their time with �ire.

**NeilMcD** · 28/02/2007, 1:40 PM

Originally Posted by Billsthoughts

connolly has done no worse or no better than robbie keane and keane seems to be totally undroppable while connolly cant make a squad.

I dont agree that keane should be undroppable but surely you cant back up that claim that Connolly has done no worse or not better than Robbie Keane.

**Billsthoughts** · 28/02/2007, 2:57 PM

how many games has he played? or more importantly how many bad games has keane played without his place being in jeoprady...
open to correction but last two games I remember connolly playing were swiss away(collective poor performance) and spain in the WC...hardly a lot of games there?

**tetsujin1979** · 28/02/2007, 3:05 PM

Turkey at home, 2-2. Connolly opened the scoring, and played out of his skin.

**dr_peepee** · 28/02/2007, 3:48 PM

They have the same agent (Advisor Lawyer or whatever he is) Micheal Kennedy.

A very shrewd low risk signing by Keane given his record at Championship level and Keanes personal exposure to him in squads. Nothing more, even if they are 'Buds' I sincerely doubt that would be a factor.

Connolly on form should be in the squad.

**youngirish** · 28/02/2007, 4:10 PM

How quickly people forget. David Connolly is cr*p at International level. Always was and always will be. He was the John O'Shea of his day. Always on the teamsheet (in the early years) but never contributing anything of note to justify his being there.

His performances ranged from the inconspicuous to the plain terrible against anyone other than p*ss poor opposition. This nonsense about calling him up because we are going through a (very) bad patch is being supported by many of the same people who were pushing for O'Shea to be a mainstay of our midfield at the end of last season after Ferguson was forced to put him there due to injuries to other players. This despite his previous 36 consecutive terrible performances in an Ireland shirt. I see he has really made that position his own this season at United and again has continued in his rich vein of form for Ireland.

The goldfish brigade I call them.

Answer me this how can recalling a player who couldn't score for us when we were a better team (with admittedly poorer strikers though) who created far more chances for our strikers than we do now possibly help us in the situation we find ourselves in? And as for Connolly being on form. Anyone who knows anything about the player would realise he has always been on form playing in poorer leagues against poorer quality opposition (Wimbledon, West Ham, Watford, Excelsior) while he was always struggled when playing at higher levels (Ireland, Feyenord, Wigan). Get a clue.

**gustavo** · 28/02/2007, 4:29 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

Answer me this how can recalling a player who couldn't score for us when we were a better team (with admittedly poorer strikers though) who created far more chances for our strikers than we do now possibly help us in the situation we find ourselves in? And as for Connolly being on form. Anyone who knows anything about the player would realise he has always been on form playing in poorer leagues against poorer quality opposition (WImbledon, West Ham, Watford, Excelsior) while he was always struggled when playing at higher levels (Ireland, Feyenord, Wigan). Get a clue.

Playing devil's advocate here , but maybe because he is a better player now than he was then?

**dr_peepee** · 28/02/2007, 4:43 PM

O.K Young Irish

You forgot his loan spell at wolves and his time at Leicester!

We're all deluded in believing Wavey Davey Connolly is the world beater up front we've been waiting fpr aren't we... Living in the land of Chocolate on Lollypop lane!!... Following the Keane band wagon like lttle automotan droids

Or is it that he's easliy one of the 23 best performing Irish players in Club football at the moment. Or more to the point one of the 4 best performing forwards at the moment... And not just his goals.

**eirebhoy** · 28/02/2007, 5:37 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

How quickly people forget. David Connolly is cr*p at International level.

It's nothing to do with forgetting. Connolly has been crap beside Robbie Keane and Keane hasn't been much better. When he's not partnering Keane he's far from crap. As for not scoring for us, 9 goals in 20-25 starts isn't a bad return. We bring up his goalscoring and he gets stick because he scored 3 of them against Liechtenstein. If it was that easy it wouldn't have taken 10 years for another Irish player to do it.

**SuperDave** · 28/02/2007, 5:56 PM

Originally Posted by FootballsKing

Simply put Connolly is a genius at Championship level and a mug at any level above that.

and who are Wales and Slovakia's centre back pairings? Rob Edwards? Danny Gabbidon? Hardly Fabio Cannavaro.

And Stan Varga and Martin Petras hardly inspire deep seated fear in centre forwards either (that said, i think Varga, training with Connolly, should be smart enough to figure out how to stop him or Stokes for that matter).

**pete** · 01/03/2007, 10:34 AM

When we get drawn against Liechtenstein Connoy can come back.

**cavan_fan** · 01/03/2007, 11:10 AM

A big striker of his ability would be a shoo-in. However we have a number of tricky, relatively little strikers and so I can see no benefit of having him ahead of Keane, Doyle, Stokes etc etc.