Talented Connolly pledges his future to Brighton beyond current four-year contract
AN innocuous fall in training a couple of weeks ago looked to have ended Aaron Connolly’s season. The Castlegar man, who turned 20 in January, snapped a couple of ligaments in his left ankle, leaving him requiring surgery which would rule him out of action for two months in a best-case scenario.
That meant an end to his season with Brighton & Hove Albion, who had nine games remaining in England’s Premier League; as well as ruling him out of the Republic of Ireland’s EURO 2020 play-off semi-final away to Slovakia and, if they won that, the play-off final against either Northern Ireland or Bosnia & Herzegovina.
That was before Covid-19 gripped the world, shutting down everything but the most essential services. Sporting calendars were wiped clean, and by the time Connolly returns from injury, there is every chance a ball won’t have been kicked in anger during his absence. But don’t dare suggest to him that, given what is happening in the world right now, it was probably the best time to pick up an injury and facing into surgery.
“God no, people have said that to me but I don’t think along those lines at all. I’d rather miss nine games – I’d rather miss 90 games – through injury than what the world is going through right now.
“It is an absolutely horrible time for so many people. People are dying, people are seriously ill, people are putting their lives at risk going to work on the front line – I’m missing a few matches with an ankle injury,” Connolly tells Tribune Sport in a phone interview from his home in Brighton.
There was, he admits, an initial disappointment when he realised the seriousness of his injury, particularly as the next game on the schedule for Brighton was to be a home tie with Arsenal on March 14.
Connolly grew up as a Gunners fan, and he was relishing the chance to go up against the side he supported as a boy, a support which made his two-goal brace against Spurs back in October, which saw him announce his arrival in the big time in no uncertain terms, all the more special.
“It is a dream to score a goal in your first start in the league, but the fact I scored twice – and it was against Spurs – that was just something extra special.
“I was an Arsenal fan when I was growing up, so that’s why when I scored the first goal, I stood in front of the Spurs fans and cupped my ears. To be fair, they probably didn’t have a clue who I was,” Connolly laughs.
Maybe not, but when he scored his second – and his side’s third – goal in the 62nd minute, you can be sure they went from not knowing who he was, to their never being a danger that they will ever forget him.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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