The son of a Donegal man is at the nerve centre of Juventus’ bid for Champions League glory in Cardiff tomorrow night.
Juventus take on Real Madrid at the Millennium Stadium in tomorrow’s final and Darragh Connolly has been key to Juve for the last couple of seasons.
Connolly is the Sports Science Officer in Turin.
He is the son of Fanad native Richard Connolly, who left the peninsula to take up a post working with the European Commission.
Darragh was born and raised in Italy, but retains strong links to Donegal. He is an ardent supporter of the the Donegal footballers and is an avid rugby fan.
Darragh Connolly
Darragh graduated from Loughborough University with a Master of Science degree in Sports and Exercise Nutrition and began working with Juventus at the start of the 2015-16 season, having previously been employed as a technician with Mapei Sport,
His current role involves the organisation and management of all Sport Science Testing programmes throughout the club.
Darragh monitors the players’ condition and provides physiology support within Juventus’s multi-disciplinary team on a daily basis while he develops areas of research at Juventus Stadium, working closely with Massimiliano Allegri, the Juve manager.
Already, Darragh has built up an impressive portfolio.
He said: “My previous role with Mapei Sport Research Centre was very varied and involved working with athletes from a wide range of different sports, including: professional cyclists, the Italian national ski team, professional basketball players, professional rugby players, ultra-endurance athletes and so on.
“Mapei also had contracts with several different football teams from Serie A and Serie B in Italy, as well as Ligue 1 in France.
“The Mapei organization owns Sassuolo Calcio and we were deeply involved with them during their promotion season and later establishing a base in Serie A. While about 50 per cent of my time in the past was dealing with football this experience with Juventus FC is actually my first official role in football.
“Mapei Sport’s collaboration with Juventus FC put me at the forefront of the candidates considered when the position of “Head of Sport Science” became available at the club.”