Luke Connolly: 'I'll never forget him standing over me. It was like a Ferguson chat'

But for Billy Morgan intervening, Luke Connolly might have walked away from football.

Yes, the Luke Connolly who kicked 2-5 in last month’s All-Ireland club semi-final, and 10 points on the afternoon of Nemo Rangers’ Munster final win over Dr Crokes, was strongly considering packing in and hanging up the boots.

It was autumn of 2012. Nemo had exited the Cork senior football championship, in round four, in early August. That meant a 20-year-old Connolly was free to go off playing soccer with College Corinthians, for the remainder of the year.