Dub star sent home
Independent.ie
Tuesday January 13 2009
ONE of Dublin’s rising young football stars was sent home from a training camp in Spain last week for an apparent breach of team discipline.
Diarmuid Connolly was released from the camp on Thursday last, two days before the rest of the squad – who spent the week at the well-known complex in La Manga – returned home.
The Dublin management last night declined to confirm or deny that Connolly was sent home but, in a statement, they said he was one of a number of players who returned early because they were “unable to train”. The return of the other four players is not believed to be linked to disciplinary issues.
It is unclear if Connolly will continue to remain as part of the Dublin squad in 2009.
Connolly is a club colleague and former team-mate of new Dublin manager Pat Gilroy at St Vincent’s.
They shared an All-Ireland club triumph with Vincent’s last March when Mickey Whelan, the current Dublin coach, was manager.
But Gilroy has had to overlook those club connections to deliver a tough message that discipline will be a priority under his management.
Connolly is a talented forward who made his Dublin debut against Tyrone in the opening NFL game of 2007, which marked the official switching-on of the Croke Park floodlights.
He made his championship debut against Meath later that year but faded from the scene that summer.
His second season with the Dubs was far more productive and he scored the first goal in the Leinster final as Dublin swept to an easy success over Wexford.
He is viewed as one of the players who has the potential to take Dublin to the next level.
Gilroy mapped out the trip to La Manga to set out his broader plans for the season and to put in an extensive week of training after the ban on collective training for inter-county teams during November and December.
None of the squad members who were in La Manga were involved in either of Dublin’s O’Byrne Cup games over the last two weekends.
- Colm Keys