Diarmuid Connolly (born 7 July 1987) is an Irish Gaelic footballer. His

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

career at senior level as a forward playing for the Dublin county team initially spanned 11 seasons from 2007 until 2018 when he left the panel after appearing in a

game against

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

in February 2018. In July 2019, Dublin senior football manager Jim Gavin confirmed in an interview with Dubs TV that Connolly was back training with the Dublin panel for the 2019 Championship. He went on to win sixth All Ireland title in September 2019. In October 2020, Connolly announced his retirement from inter-county football.

Early life

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Connolly inherited a passion for sport from his Kilkenny-born father and

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

-born mother. He was educated at his secondary school Ardscoil Rís where he played competitive Gaelic football and hurling, and attended Scoil Mhuire Marino for Primary School while he also played soccer with Belvedere F.C. and Home Farm F.C.

Career

Connolly first came to prominence as a Gaelic footballer and hurler at juvenile and underage levels with St Vincent's. He made his debut with the club's senior team in 2004. Since then Connolly has two All-Ireland Club Football medals. He has also won four

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

medals and four

county championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

medals. Diarmuid has won 7 all irelands. Connolly made his debut on the inter-county scene when he was selected for the Dublin minor team in 2005. After an unsuccessful minor tenure, he later joined the Dublin under-21 teams as a

dual player Dual player or dual star is a term used in Hiberno-English to describe someone who competes in multiple sports — for example, in Victorian Ireland, cricket and hurling. The term today in Gaelic games typically describes a male player who plays ...

and won a

medal as a hurler. Connolly made his senior debut during the

2007 O'Byrne Cup The 2007 O'Byrne Cup was a Gaelic football competition played by the teams of Leinster GAA. The competition differs from the Leinster Senior Football Championship as it also features further education colleges. O'Byrne Cup First round The fi ...

. He won five

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medals, beginning with lone triumphs in 2011 and 2013, and followed by three successive championships from 2015 to 2017. Connolly also won ten

medals and four

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

medals. He received two All Star awards in 2014 and 2016. In June 2017, Connolly received a 12-week ban after physical interference with linesman Ciaran Branagan during Dublin's win against Carlow in the quarter-final of the

2017 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2017 Leinster Senior Football Championship was the 2017 installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship organised by Leinster GAA. Dublin were the defending champions, having won their 55th title and completed a 6-in-a-row i ...

. In March 2018, Connolly left the Dublin senior football panel to spend the summer in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

playing for

Donegal Boston Donegal Boston GFC is a Gaelic football club which was founded in 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is the second largest division of the GAA on the North American continent, after New York. They train on Malibu Beach, Dorchester. Among ...

. He subsequently won the championship with the Boston club. In July 2019, Dublin senior football manager Jim Gavin confirmed in an interview with Dubs TV that Diarmuid Connolly was back training with the Dublin panel for the 2019 championship season.

Peil Star film

In 2016, Diarmuid Connolly appeared in a Street Gaelic Football film created by Peil Star with Dublin teammate Shane Carthy and New York footballer C. J. Molloy. In the video, Connolly kicks a Gaelic football across the River Liffey in Dublin.

Career statistics

Honours

St Vincents *

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of th ...

(5): 2007, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 *

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship The Leinster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament played on a knockout basis between the senior club championship winners of the competing counties in Leinster. The current holders of the Leinster title are Bal ...

(4): 2007, 2013, 2014, 2016 *

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

(2):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Dublin *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

(6): 2011,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GA ...

(10): 2007,

, 2009, 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, 2015,

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(4):

, 2015,

O'Byrne Cup The Bord na Móna O'Byrne Cup is a Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA and first staged in 1954. The competition is named after Matt Byrne, a former Wicklow GAA club and county officer. By virtue of a quirk in translation, ...

(4): 2007,

, 2015,

Leinster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling All-Ireland Under-20 Championship known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the hig ...

(1): 2007 Individual * GAA GPA All-Star Award (2): 2014, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Diarmuid 1987 births Living people Donegal Boston Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county hurlers Dual players Gaelic football forwards St Vincents (Dublin) Gaelic footballers St Vincents (Dublin) hurlers Winners of six All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)