STEPHEN KENNY PRAISED Aaron Connolly after the Brighton youngster’s influential display in the Ireland U21 side’s 1-0 victory over Armenia on Friday night.
The 19-year-old Galwegian frequently tormented opposition full-back Erjanik Ghubasaryan with his pace and skill, and Connolly was the architect of the game’s first and only goal, crossing for Troy Parrott to score the winner just after the half-hour mark.
Connolly shone despite the fact that the player usually operates as a striker, but has invariably featured on the wing for the 21s in order to accommodate others players, such as Adam Idah and Troy Parrott, more centrally.
“He wants to play centre forward,” Kenny says. “He’s never played on the left for his club and he’s played on the left for us in Toulon and here tonight.
“He’s so quick, he carries the ball, he’s exciting, his low centre of gravity — not everything came off with him. He got fouled a lot, some of them weren’t given. He did brilliantly; for the goal. He created a lot of chances for his team-mates and Troy Parrott stuck it away brilliantly.
“So he probably caught the eye tonight, it’s exciting to see players as quick as that carry the ball with their feet and go inside or outside.”
The Armenians regularly looked nervy when dealing with the threat of Connolly and ultimately opted to stick two players on him owing to the starlet’s growing influence on the game.
Kenny adds: “You have to accept he’s not James McClean, he’s not going to be covering behind the left back making tackles. He’s an outlet, you can find him with one pass. Jayson Molumby found him several times, Dara O’Shea. They really doubled up on him, there were two right backs playing against him. That won’t be the case in other matches for him.”
It was a special night too for Parrott and Gavin Kilkenny, both of whom were making their debuts at U21 level, and Kenny was pleased with the duo’s efforts.
It’s not easy. It was an even more meteoric rise for Gavin [than Troy]. He’s had to earn the right in a different way. I thought him and Lee O’Connor linked well on the right.
“Troy has not played number 10 very much for Spurs. I knew, playing there, he would come into the box. Some number 10s don’t come into the box that often.
“It’s not natural for him to link the play up with quick passing. But he does come deep, lays it off, gets into instinctive, good positions. He reads where crosses will go. He’s got composure with his finishing and strikes the ball really well. He’s scored a goal, had one just over the bar and he’s also just hit the post and he wasn’t even playing up front.”
With Callum Robinson and David McGoldrick unavailable for the senior team ahead of the match with Bulgaria on Tuesday, there remains the possibility that Parrott or another of the U21 forwards could be called up by McCarthy. Kenny though was unaware of any developments in that regard and upon learning of the Sheffield United pair’s absence, joked: “I better switch my phone off.”
Parrott could also be on the verge of playing senior football at club level. A report in Football Insider during the week suggested the Dubliner would get game time during Tottenham’s upcoming League Cup tie with Colchester.
“The more games you get like that would enhance your confidence and experience, that would be a very positive development if it is true,” Kenny said.
On the match itself, the Irish boss added: “Overall, I thought it was a good performance, the players weren’t ecstatic or elated coming into the dressing room. I had to remind them we had just won a Euro qualifier. You should be very proud of yourselves, never take that for granted.
Sometimes in those kind of matches, you can be kicking yourselves. Draws can really hurt you. We’ll take it for what it was — a good three points.”
It was also confirmed that, ahead of the upcoming qualifier away to Sweden, Jake Doyle-Hayes has withdrawn from the squad for personal reasons.
His prospective replacement, Celtic youngster Luca Connell, is currently ill and may not make the trip to Kalmar either.
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