David Connolly (born June 6, 1977 in Willesden, England) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for Template:Afc.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Connolly | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Template:Afc | ||
| Number | 31 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals as of 23:50, 16 December 2006 (UTC) | |||
After being educated at Burnham Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, he started his career with Watford where he scored 15 goals in 34 games. That impressive record earned him a move to Dutch team Feyenoord. He had loan spells at Excelsior Rotterdam and Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining Wimbledon in 2001 on a free transfer where he scored 42 goals in two seasons. West Ham United signed him in 2003 for £285,000 where he netted 14 goals. He signed for Leicester City in 2004 for £500,000 where he finished top scorer in his first season. On August 31 2005 he joined newly promoted Premiership club Wigan Athletic for £2m (with the possibility of rising to £3m if Wigan stayed in the Premiership, which they did). He scored on his debut for Wigan in a 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion, but was hit by injuries for much of the rest of the 2005/6 season.
He has also been a regular member of the Republic of Ireland national team. He was part of the 2002 World Cup squad that lost to Spain in the Round of 16, where Connolly's penalty kick was saved by Íker Casillas during the shootout.
On the 31st August David linked up with his former Republic of Ireland team-mate Roy Keane at Template:Afc. His first goal came against Colchester United on November 18th, when he came on as a sub and smashed the ball in off the post from about 18 yards out.