| Alan Connolly | |
| Irish: | Ailéon Ó Conghaile |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Birth Date: | 19 July 2001 |
| Birth Place: | Blackrock, Cork, Ireland |
| Sport: | Hurling |
| Code: | Hurling |
| County: | Cork |
| Province: | Munster |
| Club: | Blackrock |
| Clyears: | 2019–present |
| Clapps(Points): | 19 (12–128) |
| Clcounty: | 1 |
| Colleges: | MTU Cork |
| Colyears: | 2020–present |
| Fitz: | 0 |
| Counties: | Cork |
| Icyears: | 2020–present |
| Icposition: | Full-forward |
| Icapps(Points): | 15 (8-18) |
| Icprovince: | 0 |
| Icallireland: | 0 |
| Nhl: | 0 |
| Allstars: | 0 |
| Clupdate: | 21:08, 2 August 2024 |
| Icupdate: | 22:05, 7 July 2024 |
Alan Connolly (born 19 July 2001) is an Irish hurler. At club level he plays with Blackrock and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team. He usually lines out at full-forward.
Born and raised in Blackrock, Barrett first played hurling to a high standard as a student at St Francis College in Rochestown. He progressed through the various age grades before joining the school's senior team. Connolly was top scorer with 0-07 when St Francis College beat Hamilton High School by 1-13 to 0-14 to claim the All-Ireland PPS SBHC title.[1] He was a Dr O'Callaghan Cup runner-up in February 2020 after a 3-24 to 1-15 defeat by Midleton CBS, in what was his last game for Rochestown College.[2] Connolly later studied at Munster Technological University Cork and was added to their Fitzgibbon Cup panel in 2023.[3]
Connolly began his club career at juvenile and underage levels with the Blackrock club, before progressing to the club's senior team. He made his championship debut in a 1–25 to 2–16 defeat by Newtownshandrum in August 2019.[4] Connolly won a Cork SHC medal in October 2020 after top-scoring with 0-13 in the 4-26 to 4-18 extra-time defeat of Glen Rovers in the final.[5] He also claimed the man of the match award and was the championship's top scorer with 5-52.
Connolly first played for Cork as a member of the minor team during their unsuccessful Munster MHC campaign in 2018.[6] [7] After a year with no inter-county activity, he joined Cork's under-20 team in 2020. Success in this grade was immediate with Connolly claiming Munster and All-Ireland U20HC medals in 2020 after respective defeats of Tipperary and Dublin.[8] [9]
Connolly had one more year of under-20 hurling, however, his inclusion on the senior team in 2021, after being an unused substitute the previous year, made him ineligible for the grade.[10] [11] He made his senior debut in May 2021 when he scored two goals after coming on as a substitute for Shane Barrett in a 5–22 to 1–27 National Hurling League defeat of Waterford.[12] Connolly was part of the matchday panel when Cork suffered a 3-32 to 1-22 defeat by Limerick in the 2021 All-Ireland final.[13]
Connolly was at full-forward when Cork lost the 2022 National League final to Waterford.[14] He missed the entire 2023 season with a shoulder injury, before a hamstring injury further delayed his return.[15]
Connolly's uncles, Tom and Jim Cashman, won six All-Ireland SHC medals with Cork between 1977 and 1990. His grandfather, Mick Cashman, was a substitute on Cork's 1952–1954 three-in-a-row team, while his granduncle, Jimmy Brohan, also lined out with that team.[16]
| Team | Year | Cork PSHC | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Score | |||
| Blackrock | 2019 | 1 | 0-01 | |
| 2020 | 6 | 5–52 | ||
| 2021 | 5 | 5–31 | ||
| 2022 | 6 | 1–39 | ||
| 2023 | 0 | 0-00 | ||
| 2024 | 1 | 1-05 | ||
| Career total | 19 | 12–128 | ||
| Team | Year | National League | Munster | All-Ireland | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | Apps | Score | |||
| Cork | 2020 | Division 1A | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | |
| 2021 | 5 | 4-02 | 1 | 0-00 | 2 | 0-02 | 8 | 4-04 | |||
| 2022 | 5 | 1-05 | 3 | 4-02 | 2 | 0-02 | 10 | 5-09 | |||
| 2023 | 0 | 0-00 | 0 | 0-00 | — | 0 | 0-00 | ||||
| 2024 | 3 | 6-04 | 4 | 4-09 | 3 | 0-03 | 10 | 10-16 | |||
| Total | 13 | 11-11 | 8 | 8-11 | 7 | 0-07 | 28 | 19-29 | |||