28th January 2000.
On a particularly cold winter afternoon, 5,715 avid supporters crammed themselves into the Withdean Stadium; home of Brighton and Hove Albion, to watch the Seagulls take on Darlington in a fourth-tier clash of the titans.
The game finished 1-1 with Brighton fans trudging to the pub afterwards to talk about the lack of route one football and the need to “just kick it right in their goal”, probably. At the same time over in Galway, Ireland, one Aaron Connolly was born.
Jump forward almost two decades and that same infant is leading Brighton to a 3-0 win against Champions League finalists Tottenham with a brace at a sold-out Amex Stadium in a historic win for the seaside club, as well as securing his first and second caps for the Republic of Ireland. They grow up so fast, don’t they?
Whilst only 19-years-old – meaning Connolly was just two when his striking teammate Glenn Murray started his footballing career – the Irishman has managed to muscle his way through an affluence of attacking players onto Graham Potter’s team sheet. Brighton’s gaffer usually sculpts his team into an overly-fluid 3-4-3; with the flanking players of Martín Montoya and Steven Alzate often acting as quasi-wingbacks that are expected to be overly attacking.
The front three of Glenn Murray, Neal Maupay and Pascal Groß are encouraged to roam and cover a lot of the attacking third to create gaps in the defence and thwart static marking from the opposition. Connolly would usually be brought on late in the game to occupy the left-hand side; subtly impressing with his bursts of pace with the ball and heavy pressing on defenders when out of possession to try and force mistakes, as he showcased against Manchester City when most players on the pitch had lost all motivation.
However, 11:30am rolls around ahead of the Seagulls’ against-the-odds match against Spurs and the teenager’s name is branded prominently on the pre-match team sheet, Potter going against his trusted layout in favour of a 4-4-2, with Connolly and Maupay making up the double-barrelled attack. Both strikers are expected to roam fluidly as they would in Potter’s 3-4-3, with the lineal midfield-four triangulating passes towards the two nimble and well-rounded forwards – Connolly especially highlighted as the main counter-attacking outlet due to his speed; a trait shown in his brief international debut against Georgia as the youngster made Ireland look dangerous in the final few minutes.
Maupay, as a somewhat of an advanced-forward figure, is crucial to Connolly thriving in this system as the Frenchman will come more central when the 19-year-old veers to the left-wing as he often does; opening up possibilities for play between the strikers as well as supply from the ever-present Aaron Mooy on the left flank.
Both strikers also move around on the shoulders of the defensive line in an attempt to get behind defenders for runs or to latch onto low whipped crosses. Just over two minutes in and Maupay’s deep positioning allowed him to pounce to put Brighton ahead. At the half-an-hour mark, Connolly similarly edges ahead of the defensive line and audaciously backheels Dan Burn’s whipped cross before following up his own rebound, with his positioning not allowing any Spurs defenders to clean up at the back.
Half time and Brighton are two goals up against Tottenham Hotspur, almost as if everything was tactically falling into place, whilst a young teenager from Galway was sat in the changing rooms basking in the fact he had become the 100th Irishman to score in the Premier League.
Connolly’s performance against Spurs, however, did also show that the prospect can do a lot more than just fulfil the role of a poacher in Potter’s set-up. Seeing that Lewis Dunk was in space in his own half and that the Spurs defence is scattered, Connolly ghosts from the centre of the pitch and tails off to the left-hand side before making a darting sprint past Toby Alderweireld before Dunk plays a pinpoint pass to the teenager.
Despite favouring the left-hand side of the pitch, the right-footed Connolly solely used his dominant foot to dribble towards goal before cutting in; putting Alderweireld off his footing and eloquently curling the ball towards the far post. The former Mervue United youngster had more shots on target against Tottenham that any other player in any other game that gameweek – a testament as to how much he torments defenders.
Although seemingly most proficient when at the brunt of the attack as a striker, Connolly’s ability to play as a left-winger and inside-left forward hybrid causes defenders problems. Instead of favouring running down the wing in an attempt to cross the ball, Connolly much prefers – as an unorthodox-footed left winger – to cut inside to find paths into central areas to open up for a shot or inside pass; giving the defender a harder job than to just block the cross.
Even in his embryonic footballing career Connolly is already establishing himself as competent beyond his years as a left-sided attacker – albeit an attacker that was at the front of the queue to be subbed off at Villa Park so that Brighton could cope the rest of the game with ten men. Surely no manager would play him out of that position whilst he feels so at home in his current role, right?
Ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s tie with Switzerland, Mick McCarthy spins a big novelty Wheel of Formations, blindfolds himself and then proceeds to throw a dart at the wheel. “3-1-4-2,” Mick mutters to himself, “with Connolly on the right and James McClean as a centre-mid.
You’ve done it again Mick.” Whilst Connolly’s full international debut was largely hit and miss for the whole team as Ireland were largely dominated by Switzerland, the teenager still showed glimpses of his ability – with well-timed darting runs that often bypassed Swiss players but rarely came to fruition with a well-timed pass.
Regardless, when played in his idealised position – as Graham Potter is set on doing – Aaron Connolly looks certain to become one of the most dangerous and clinical young forwards in the Premier League. From Galway youngster to top-tier giant killer, we could be seeing Brighton’s starlet jumping to the upper echelons of Premier League players in seasons to come.
Providing Graham Potter isn’t replaced by Mick McCarthy.
