After tormenting Tottenham for the opening half hour, the 19-year-old opened his Premie League goalscoring account.
Aaron Connolly had already arrived in the Premier League, but everyone knows about the youngster now.
Heading into this weekend, the Ireland senior squad and Under 21 squad boasted the same goalscoring statistic. Among their selected forwards, the seniors and U21s only had one goal between them.
For the senior squad, that honour went to Callum Robinson. For the U21s, Michael Obafemi could take a bow.
Two squads, eight forwards [we’re not counting Alan Judge, no matter what the FAI state] and two Premier League goals. Hardly earth-shattering but the times are changing already.
At 1:02pm on Saturday, October 5th 2019, Aaron Connolly – aged 19 and 251 days – bagged his first ever Premier League goal. At 1:57pm, he scored his second.
The Galway native was starting in the Premier League for the first time, after a couple of substitute appearances, and Tottenham were at the Amex Stadium to try and get their season back on track after a 7-2 Champions League shellacking by Bayern Munich.
Connolly was all industry, harrying and a running threat from the get-go and he could well have won his side an early penalty after Moussa Sissoko bundled him over heading into the Spurs box.
Brighton had the better of the early exchanges and went 1-0 up. The game was held up after Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris suffered a nasty arm injury in the lead-up to that goal but Brighton showed no mercy once play re-started.
A cross into the Spurs box saw Connolly up against the experienced duo of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen. He connected with an audacious flick but sub goalie Paulo Gazzaniga kept it out:
Connolly was the first to react, however, and he pounced on the rebound to slot home and make it 2-0.
That saw him mobbed by his Brighton teammates and had the home fans chanting, ‘We want seven!’
It wasn’t quite seven but Connolly made it 3-0 with his second, in the second half, when he cut inside from the left-hand side of the box and curled one past Gazzaniga into the bottom corner.
After scoring in the League Cup earlier this season, that is three in seven games [two starts] for the teenager.
