Tony Connolly (born 5 April 1941 in Blackrock, County Cork, Ireland) is an Irish former sportsperson. He played

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

with his local clubs Blackrock and St Finbarr's and was a member at senior level of the Cork county team from 1960, interrupted by serious hand injury, returned 1966 until 1968, when six months suspension ended his career.

Playing career

Club

Connolly began his club hurling career with the Blackrock club. In 1961 he won his first county senior championship title as 'the Rockies' defeated north Cork divisional side Avondhu by 4-10 to 3-7. After a dispute with the Blackrock club Connolly left and joined the St Finbarr's club on the southside of Cork city. Here he had even more success, winning a second county title in 1965 following 'the Barr's' 6-8 to 2-5 defeat of

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to h ...

. The club later represented Cork in the provincial club series and even reached the final. A 3-12 to 2-3 defeat of Waterford's Mount Sion gave Connolly a

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

club winners' medal. After St Finbarr's lost the 1967 county final to Glen Rovers, the club recovered to reach the championship decider again the following year. A remarkable 5-9 to 1-9 defeat of divisional side Imokilly gave Connolly a third county championship title.

Inter-county

Connolly made his return with the

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

senior hurling team in a Munster quarter-final against

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in 1966. It was the beginning of a return to the big time for 'the Rebels' after a decade in the doldrums. That year Cork qualified for a Munster showdown with Waterford. An entertaining hour of hurling followed, however, victory went to Cork by 4-9 to 2-9 for the first time in ten years. It was Connolly's first senior

winners' medal. This victory allowed Cork to advance directly to the All-Ireland final where arch-rivals

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

provided the opposition. It was the first meeting of these two great sides since 1947 and 'the Cats' were installed as the firm favourites. In spite of this a hat-trick of goals by

Colm Sheehan Colm Sheehan (born 9 September 1941) was an Irish hurler. He played for club side Éire Óg, divisional side Muskerry and was the full-forward on the Cork senior hurling team that won the 1966 All-Ireland Championship. Sheehan's club caree ...

gave Cork a merited 3-9 to 1-10 victory over an Eddie Keher-inspired Kilkenny. It was Connolly's first All-Ireland winners' medal. Cork failed to retain their provincial and All-Ireland titles in 1967 while Tipperary trounced Cork by nine points in the Munster final a year later, a game missed through injury by Connolly. Connolly left the Cork team following this defeat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Tony 1941 births Living people Blackrock National Hurling Club hurlers St Finbarr's hurlers Cork inter-county hurlers All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners