OTD: AARON CONNOLLY BORN
- BY BEN HARDIE
- Jan 28
- 3 min read
Born on this day in 2000 is former Sunderland and current Leyton Orient striker Aaron Connolly. The Republic of Ireland international signed for us on a free transfer in September 2024 but departed the club for Millwall just under four months later due to a lack of game time.
Connolly hails from the small town of Oranmore in County Galway, Ireland and began his career in the youth teams of a couple of clubs in his home country, prior to moving to England to join Brighton and Hove Albion’s academy aged 16.
Brighton was his home for the next seven years and one year after signing with the Seagulls he was making his debut in the EFL Cup. He gained some notoriety after scoring a brace in a 3-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur in his first Premier League start but it turned out to be something of a false dawn and he scored only a few more goals in the top flight. Between 2019 and 2023, the forward went out on loan to four different clubs, in the second tiers of two different countries, Luton Town, Middlesbrough, Venezia and Hull City. Game time came at a premium at Luton, Venezia and Hull, only at Middlesbrough did he manage to feature in over ten matches throughout the course of the season. He found the net twice whilst with the Teesside club, once in a 4-1 win over Derby County and again in a 2-0 victory versus Birmingham City. His temporary club missed out on a play-off spot by just one position but he did get to feature in a cupset win via penalties at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
Hull, despite not featuring that much with just six appearances in half a season, became his new permanent club in the campaign after his loan spell. In total he netted 10 goals in 37 appearances across his time on loan and permanently, which isn’t a poor record by any means. Unfortunately, he would once again just miss out on the play-offs by a singular league position once more in his one and only full season on Humberside. Despite a decent record in front of goal, the Tigers allowed his contract to expire in the summer of 2024. He subsequently came to Wearside on a free transfer.
In an interview in October 2024, Connolly spoke about how an addiction to alcohol ended his promising start to life at Brighton and contributed to him leaving Hull City. Fortunately, he spent a month in rehab and said that he was happy to be playing football at Sunderland. Competition for a starting role as striker was stiff for him whilst here, he found himself behind Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda in the pecking order and Nazariy Rusyn was the one getting time off the bench at the end of matches rather than him. The attacker made 11 appearances, his sole goal came at the Den against his future team Millwall in a 1-1-1 draw. Ultimately, he just never really fit into our style of play and was on a short team deal anyway so there was no real harm done. The club didn’t stand in his way when he chose to leave for Millwall.
Connolly made 14 appearances at Millwall, scoring just once. To be fair, it did come in the first 30 seconds of a 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers. Still, the Championship seemed to be too much for him, so when his contract expired in summer 2025 he made the sensible decision to drop down to League One and join defeated play-off finalists Leyton Orient.
He's had a renaissance at Orient, scoring nine goals and assisted four in 21 games at the time of writing. His club aren't going for promotion again at the moment, they sit 16th and are just three points above the drop zone. It's good to see him doing well though. Now aged 26, he's got plenty of time to continue to turn his career around.
On the international stage, he’s earned nine caps for the Republic of Ireland so far, with his debut coming in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
