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Published 12:31 28 Jul 2022 BST
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In an in-depth interview with Irish Football Fan TV he explains his journey as a footballer so far, and where he hopes to be in the future.
“My confidence was on the deck, when I missed chances and hadn’t been playing,” explained the 22-year-old.
“I wasn’t in the right place to go on loan last year. I did it because I wanted to play football but I wish this version of myself right now had showed up at Middlesbrough. It would have been a different story."I’ve got a good group of people around me now, a good group of mates… the old circle I used to be around off the pitch, I’ve had to make my mind up.“Mentally, I wouldn’t have been able to move abroad last season. I wouldn’t have been excited. But this time, I couldn’t say yes quick enough.
“That love for football has probably faded in the last three seasons,” he said. “Everyone can probably tell by my performances at times.“And maybe the way I carried myself on the pitch and sometimes off it. Now I’m in a better headspace, you look back at games and think ‘Was I really walking around for that long? Did I really have my head down for this long? Did I really walk around like that?” Connolly hasn’t started a game for Ireland since an Aviva Stadium draw with Azerbaijan last September, when he was substituted by Stephen Kenny at half-time. “I had a meeting with Keith and Stephen and they were showing me clips from the Azerbaijan game where I wasn’t pressing and then they showed me clips from the U21 game (with Sweden in 2019) where I wouldn’t stop running. That faded without me realising,” the forward reflects.
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