Aaron Connolly and Troy Parrott will be forever linked in the mind's some of Irish football supporters. Back in that heady pre-covid autumn of 2019, Connolly scored his now-famous brace against Spurs. Two months later, Jose Mourinho handed Parrott his Champions League debut. Both were still teenagers.
It felt like there was inevitability about their success, especially with Ireland. It hasn't worked out that way.
Three years later, Connolly only has 8 Ireland caps and still hasn't scored for his country.
Parrott provides proof that young players can lose their way, and find it again. Last year, he went on loan, first to Ipswich, then to MK Dons. There was a palpable sense of drift in the Dubliner's career. Somewhere along the way, Parrott realised what was at stake, and how easy it would be to squander it all.
He spoke honestly after scoring that winner against Lithuania.
After a gruelling preseason in South Korea, Parrott joined Preston North End on loan this week, while extending his contract at Spurs.
Aaron Connolly's woes
Connolly has had his own struggles, and they've been more public.
Hype is a dangerous thing, and Connolly has clearly struggled with the weight of expectation and the spotlight of fame.
Brighton fans clearly tired of him. His loan move to Boro in January was fruitless.
He signed a one-year loan move to Serie B side Venezia this month. He arrives on the shores of the Adriatic desperate to revitalise his career.
Connolly's interview with Paul Nealon on Irish Football Fan TV this week seems to suggest he has seen the light.
If we take his words at face value, Connolly realises that his lifestyle off the pitch was impacting his playing.
"Physically and mentally, I haven't felt this strong in a long time"
"A lot of people know why I haven't kicked on and I know myself. That’s why this move to Italy was vital, just to get away from the circle I was with back in England, I needed a fresh start."
"My confidence was on the deck, when I missed chances and hadn’t been playing. 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.
"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."
"It’s either keep going in the phase I was going in and eventually I’ll just be completely forgotten. At the minute I’m probably the forgotten man in Irish football and if I kept associating with people I’d been associating with before, I would have completely gone off the scale."
Change starts with awareness. It does sound like Connolly has been made aware of everything he stands to lose. He is clearly aware of the urgency here and how quickly he could be forgotten. He will be judged ultimately on his football not his interviews, but this interview gives one hope.
Italy offers a clean slate, but many new challenges: new language, different football culture, a distance from all the familiar trappings.
It seems crazy to think that the stakes could be so high for a footballer who's only 22. But as Connolly seems to be painfully aware, there won't be many more second chances.
Parrott and Connolly are very different footballers, but the Galway man has provided enough glimpses of his talent to think there's a successful career ahead of him if he can keep his head screwed on.
Here's hoping.
