When the Dubliner joined them, Donegal Boston were mid-table in the league standings. This morning, they wake up as champions.
This weekend will see Dublin take on Tyrone in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Diarmuid Connolly should be gracing that stage but he’ll happily settle for being the toast of Boston GAA.
The St Vincent’s clubman opted out of inter-county football this summer and made the switch to Donegal Boston, joining the likes of Liam Silke (Galway) and Brendan Murphy (Carlow) as they competed in the Boston SFC.
The forward had a big say in just about every game he played for his new club but he went above, beyond and beyond that against during Sunday’s final against Wolfe Tones.
Ahead of the game, Connolly took part in the traditional parade as the sun beamed upon Canton’s Field A from on high:
Strange seeing @dermoc123 in a donegal jersey 😂 Donegal Boston v Wolfetones in the SFC final hopefully a good game 🙌🏻🏐 pic.twitter.com/2pGQm8OLrP
— Sammy (@samcaswell33) August 26, 2018
The game itself was closely fought in the first half. Connolly scored three points as, midway through the half, the scores were level at 0-4 apiece. Donegal pulled away with a couple of scores late in the half and led 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.
In the second half, inspired by Connolly, Shane Carthy and captain Jason Noctor, Donegal pulled away even further. Wolfe Tones often doubled up on Connolly but it was a tough, tough ask.
The final score was 0-17 to 1-12 as Donegal claimed the Boston SFC title, making up for the heartaches of losing the previous two finals. Connolly finished with a mighty impressive personal tally of 0-12 and was lauded as, soon after Noctor lifted the trophy, he got his hands on some silverware.
The 31-year-old can yet switch back to St Vincen’t for Dublin SFC championship games next month, if he so desires. Right now, he is king of Boston GAA and entitled to lap that up a fair few days.
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