David Connolly

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For the Australian politician, see David Connolly (Australian politician).
David Connolly
Personal information
Full name David Connolly
Date of birth June 6, 1977 (1977-06-06) (age 31)
Place of birth    Willesden, England
Height 5ft 9ins
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Sunderland
Number 31
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1994-1997
1997-2001
1998-1999
1999-2001
2001-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-present		 Watford
Feyenoord Rotterdam
→Wolves (loan)
→Excelsior Rotterdam (loan)
Wimbledon
West Ham United
Leicester City
Wigan Athletic
Sunderland		 34 (15)
25 0(7)
40 0(6)
48 (42)
68 (42)
48 (14)
49 (17)
22 0(3)
38 (13)   
National team2
1996-present Flag of Ireland Republic of Ireland 41 0(9)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 05:54, 5 September 2007 (UTC) (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 23:50, 16 December 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

David Connolly (born June 6, 1977 in Willesden, England) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker, currently in the books of Sunderland.

Contents

[edit] Club career

After being educated at St Joan of Arc in Hertfordshire, he started his career with Watford where he scored 15 goals in 34 games. That impressive record earned him a move to Dutch team Feyenoord Rotterdam. He was at one point the highest paid player in Dutch football, and had loan spells at Excelsior Rotterdam and Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining Wimbledon in 2001 on a free transfer where he scored 42 goals in two seasons. West Ham United signed him in 2003 for £285,000 where he netted 14 goals in a single season.

Connolly signed for Leicester City in 2004 for £500,000, finishing the club's top scorer in his first season. During his Leicester days, Connolly is best remembered for having scored a hat-trick against Stoke City in August 2005, before departing for Wigan.[1]

On August 31, 2005, he joined newly promoted Premiership club Wigan Athletic for £2m (with the possibility of rising to £3m if Wigan stayed in the Premiership, which they did).[2] He scored on his debut for Wigan in a 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion, but was hit by injuries for much of the rest of the 2005-06 season.

In 2006, also on August 31, Connolly linked up with his former Republic of Ireland team-mate Roy Keane at Sunderland. His first goal came against Colchester United on November 18, when he came on as a sub and smashed the ball in off the post from about 18 yards out. Connolly ended up Sunderland's top scorer and was an integral part of their promotion in the 2006-07 season, scoring 13 goals in the campaign and scoring the final goal of the season for Sunderland against Luton Town on May 6, 2007, in the match that made Sunderland champions of the Coca-Cola Championship.

In 2007-08, however, Connolly played almost no part in the season, making just one substitute appearance.

[edit] International career

Connolly has also been a regular member of the Republic of Ireland national team, since making his debut on May 29, 1996 against Portugal. He was part of the 2002 World Cup squad that lost to Spain in the round of 16, where Connolly's penalty kick was saved by Iker Casillas during the shootout. He has scored nine goals for the Republic in 41 caps and also scored once for the Republic in Niall Quinn's benefit match on May 14, 2002, against his current club, Sunderland.

[edit] International goals

David Connolly: International Goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1[3] 9th June, 1996 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Flag of the United States USA 1-2 Lose U.S. Cup
2[4] 12th June, 1996 New Jersey, U.S. Flag of Mexico Mexico 2-2 Draw U.S. Cup
3[5] 21st May, 1997 Dublin Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 5-0 Win World Cup Qualifier
4[6] 21st May, 1997 Dublin Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 5-0 Win World Cup Qualifier
5[7] 21st May, 1997 Dublin Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 5-0 Win World Cup Qualifier
6[8] 6th September, 1997 Reykjavík, Iceland Flag of Iceland Iceland 4-2 Win World Cup Qualifier
7[9] 10th February, 1999 Dublin Flag of Paraguay Paraguay 2-0 Win Friendly
8[10] 6th October, 2001 Dublin Flag of Cyprus Cyprus 4-0 Win World Cup Qualifier
9[11] 9th September, 2003 Dublin Flag of Turkey Turkey 2-2 Draw Friendly

[edit] Personal life

Connolly is married. In January 2006, he became a father for the first time, and welcomed his second daughter on April of the following year.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leicester 4-2 Stoke, BBC Sport 2005-08-09. Retrieved on 2007-09-05
  2. ^ Wigan secure signing of Connolly, BBC Sport 2005-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-09-05
  3. ^ "Man City Info Via The Alps #201". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  4. ^ "Man City Info Via The Alps #202". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  5. ^ "BBC SPORT". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  6. ^ "BBC SPORT". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  7. ^ "BBC SPORT". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  8. ^ "SPURS-LIST Digest - 7 Sep 1997 to 8 Sep 1997". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  9. ^ "Irish Sport News, February 11, 1999". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  10. ^ "BreakingNews.ie - 2003/09/09: Connolly and Dunne on target". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  11. ^ "Ireland Step Up A Gear". Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Republic of Ireland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Given • 2 Finnan • 3 Harte • 4 Cunningham • 5 Staunton • 6 Roy Keane • 7 McAteer • 8 Holland • 9 Duff • 10 Robbie Keane • 11 Kilbane • 12 Kinsella • 13 Connolly • 14 Breen • 15 Dunne • 16 Kiely • 17 Quinn • 18 G. Kelly • 19 Morrison • 20 O'Brien • 21 Reid • 22 Carsley • 23 A. Kelly • Coach: McCarthy
 Flag of Ireland
v • d • e
Sunderland A.F.C. – current squad

1 Gordon • 2 Halford • 4 Etuhu • 5 Nosworthy • 6 McShane • 7 Edwards • 8 Whitehead • 9 Stokes • 10 K. Richardson • 11 Murphy • 12 Miller • 13 Ward • 14 Higginbotham • 15 Collins • 16 Chopra • 17 Jones • 18 Leadbitter • 19 Yorke • 20 Reid • 21 Anderson • 23 O'Donovan • 24 Carson • 25 Mvoto • 26 Bardsley • 28 Kavanagh • 29 Hartley • 31 Connolly • 32 Fülöp • 33 Wallace • 39 Waghorn • 40 Dowson • 44 Evans • 45 Prica • –– Arnau •

Manager: Keane