It’s London in the 1980s and the GAA scene is a vibrant one.
Next to the pitches in Ruislip, west of London city, and beyond, a group of second generation Irish kids have no interest in risking life and limb on the hurling pitch.
So every weekend, while their dads line out for Brian Boru's and transport themselves back to the old sod for 70-odd minutes, they settle in for a kickabout on the sidelines.
Three of those kids would go on to play, between them, more than 1,500 times in professional football.
One would win 41 senior Ireland caps and play in a World Cup, while the other two would make it all the way to the Under-21s.
For David Connolly, hurling has always been best enjoyed as a spectator sport.
“I didn’t really want to play it because I just saw everyone getting kicked to pieces and ending up in hospital,” he says, speaking to Mirror Sport via Metaspins.
“I thought, that’s not really for me. So me and a lot of the second generation, who were born here and whose dads were fighting on the Gaelic pitches of Ruislip and London, would end up just playing football beside them.”
He lists the childhood pals that would follow him into the world of professional football.
“Some of those lads ended up having careers - Peter Gain and Kevin Maher at Southend,” said Connolly.
“We were the ones who didn’t fancy getting... there were no helmets and stuff like that. So that was it.”
Gain, a Tottenham youth, made over 200 appearances for Lincoln City, while he also had spells at Peterborough and Dagenham and Redbridge.
Maher was another Tottenham prospect who played his first-team football at Southend, Oldham, Gillingham, Dagenham and Redbridge and Bray Wanderers.
Connolly moved from Watford, just north of Ruislip, to Feyenoord, Wolves, Excelsior, Wimbledon, West Ham, Leicester, Wigan, Sunderland, Southampton and Portsmouth.
“No one in my family really played football - or soccer,” Connolly says. “I spent most of my childhood on Gaelic grounds.
“No one played football, they were all huge hurling and Gaelic football people.
“That was my childhood, really, going all around London, around the country. I’d go back over to Ireland sometimes too.
“I went over, I think Galway won the All-Ireland in ‘87 [against Kilkenny, by a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-9], and my dad got me into the dressing room and stuff like that. That was our life, really.”
How exactly did he gain access to the winners’ dressing room at Croke Park?
“I’ve got no idea,” Connolly replies. “But I think my dad could talk his way into most things in those days. Maybe they were more innocent times.
“But obviously not all the family moved over from Galway, so we still had links in Galway and some of our family are still there. My uncles and aunties and stuff like that.
“I’m sure he wrangled it somehow. I don’t know how.”
Connolly’s dad Tom has since passed, but the 48-year-old retains a strong interest in hurling and Gaelic football.
“Obviously I would watch it now if I’m at home, especially when it gets to different stages of the season,” he says.
“I wouldn’t venture now on a Sunday to Ruislip and places like that, but absolutely I would watch it on the telly and I would be interested in it. But I preferred football and that was it.”
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