WHEN asked who were the most famous players he has shared a pitch with up until this point, Dylan Connolly pauses for a moment.
He mentions having played against Bohemians in the FAI Cup and also lining out against Shamrock Rovers, both for Leinster Senior League outfit Lucan United.
Go a little further back in his career and the ex-St Francis schoolboy played alongside Luton Town striker Millenic Alli and Joshua Kayode of Rotherham United.
He will have a different answer after tomorrow when he is set to line out for Auckland City against Bayern Munich.
He is the only Irishman in the Club World Cup, although Dublin-reared Tunisian international Ayman Ben Mohamed — who had spells with UCD, Longford Town and Bohemians — is in the ES Tunis squad and could line out against Chelsea.
The expanded competition is controversial both because of the Saudi Arabian origin of its prize fund and the prolongation of an already long season.
But, for amateur side Auckland, concerns about time off revolve around their day jobs rather than rest.
Connolly explained: “Everyone works a full-time job alongside football. I work as a physio.
“Luckily for me, although I work for a company, I am a contractor so leave is not much of an issue. Some of the lads are struggling to get four weeks off and are trying to do some work while we’re away.
“No other team has that worry. It’s definitely tough but we can’t complain. What other amateur team gets to experience this?”
They will return home to a fixture backlog in domestic competition but, again, it is a problem they would rather have than not.
Connolly said: “We will probably be playing midweek fixtures for the rest of the year but we’ll deal with it.
“A lot of these players will have been on international duty but, even so, you can see clubs are taking it seriously and not just treating it as a pre-season tournament, as some people thought they might.
“The fact Real Madrid just paid £10million so Trent Alexander-Arnold could play shows how seriously clubs are taking it.”
And, insofar as they can, Auckland have done the same, arriving in the USA almost a fortnight in advance of their opening fixture to play friendly games against Philadelphia Union and fellow competition participants Al-Ain.
Connolly’s girlfriend Tiquilla has travelled to America to cheer him on while some US-based pals will watch him in action against Benfica in Orlando.
It is another far-flung adventure for Connolly who ended up lining out for Tupapa Maraerenga of the Cook Islands — population 15,040 — in the qualifying round of the Oceania Champions League last year.
It was not long after his arrival in New Zealand, a move he decided upon in part thanks to a conversation with former Shelbourne and Longford Town player Aaron O’Driscoll.
Connolly said: “I just asked him what the football was like and would there be opportunities, and what he said was positive. His advice helped.”
It saw Connolly and Tiquilla — who works in a primary school — embark on an adventure which has gone better than might have been expected.
ASKED OTHERS FOR ADVICE
He said: “I didn’t quite make it out of the League of Ireland academy system. I had been playing amateur football for two years with Lucan United in the Leinster Senior League.
“It was a good standard with some good players but I had ambitions to play at a higher level. And I wanted something new in my life.
“I knew people who had come out here and done well so we said we’d move over for a year and see how it goes. But we really didn’t want to go home.
“We’ve loved it. There’s a much more relaxed lifestyle with a better balance between work and free time.
“We’ll have permanent residency within a year and we’re very settled.”
Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix — both of whom compete in Australia’s A League — are the only two professional clubs in New Zealand.
After his brief stint with the Pacific Islanders, he signed for Birkenhead United and had a solid season which saw them reach the league final. He provided an assist in the decider.
It was not enough for them to overcome Auckland City but it helped him to secure a move there.
AUCKLAND ARRIVAL
He said: “Last year was my most enjoyable season in senior football. And playing in that final was the cherry on the cake but I was gutted we lost.
“When the Club World Cup was announced and the draw was made, I didn’t envisage myself playing in it because I wasn’t at the club.
“Obviously when they came to sign me, the Club World Cup was a big draw but I would have signed anyway because they’re a big club.
“We might be amateur but on a regular week we train four times with a game at the weekend so we take our football seriously.”
But, no matter how much they do, trying to bridge the gulf between themselves and Bayern — and their other two group opponents Boca Juniors and Benfica — will be next to impossible.
Nevertheless, the full-back says there is no trepidation about taking on their star-studded opponents.
He said:“I don’t think so. It’s more excitement. We know where we stand. We’re training as much as we can to give a good account of ourselves.
“We don’t want to have just come over for the ride. There is a part where you are pinching yourself because you’re up against players you might idolise.
“Bayern are one of the strongest teams around. They’ve players such as Harry Kane, Thomas Muller and Michael Olise. To share the pitch with these people would be unbelievable.
“How many players — particularly amateur ones — get this chance?
But it’s important not to get carried away with the occasion, which could easily happen.
“We’ve got to focus on our job, our plan, for 90 extremely tough minutes and almost put everything else to one side, forget about it, be in the zone.”
WHY NOT?
Whatever happens, it will not change the fact that his move to the other side of the world has been a game-changer for Connolly, who is originally from Clondalkin before the family moved to Celbridge.
And the older brother of Athlone Town player Aaron believes others should consider broadening their horizons if they do not make the progression into the League of Ireland.
He said: “I was probably close-minded as a teenager. I was in that academy system and the sole purpose was to get into the first team and when that doesn’t happen it can be quite disheartening.
“When I was with Shelbourne’s Under-17s I trained with the first team and I thought it was going to happen for me.
“It didn’t, I went to Drogheda United and got more exposure with the Under-19s but, for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. But I can’t think of too many who are in the first team now.
“It’s a small funnel and not a lot squeeze through and, to this day, I have never signed a professional contract.
“But I have had some cool experiences, whether it was playing for the Irish Regions team in Spain, for a team in the Cook Islands and now this.
“I am not going to advise people what to do but there are definitely options there, you just have to take that leap.
“It was always my ambition to be a professional footballer and it always will be, even if I am realistic too that, at 25, the window of opportunity is probably closing for me.
“But my mindset, whether amateur or professional, will still be the same.
“If you had told me I would go from playing for Lucan in the Leinster Senior League to playing for Auckland in the Club World Cup in America, I would have said you were crazy so you just never know.
“Things happen for some people and not for others.”
