CONNO - A RELUCTANT DEPARTURE

MARK CONNOLLY admits his final game for Rhyl this Saturday will be the most heart-wrenching experience of his football career.
The goal-getting midfielder is set to sign for Unibond League club Colwyn Bay after the Lilywhites' Welsh Cup fourth round tie against Pontardawe Town at Belle Vue.
But there can rarely have been a case of a footballer so reluctant to leave a club.
Connolly admits to being in love with Rhyl and its fervent supporters, but with an addition to the family due in August, he cannot risk accepting the financial package on offer to the Lilies players for the rest of the season.
The departure of president and main benefactor Peter Parry from Belle Vue has left the Welsh Premier champions facing a well-publicised cash crisis.
The majority of the squad have reportedly agreed to a deal whereby they remain on their current wage until the end of February, but for the remaining two months of the season will not be paid.
However, if the team qualifies for Europe, either through finishing in the WPL top three or by winning the Welsh Cup, the players will share the resulting attractive cash prize between them.
Unfortunately, Connolly felt he could not take that gamble.
"If my girlfriend wasn't pregnant, I'd probably have taken a chance, but as it is I couldn't take the risk. I need the money I earn from football for our 'baby fund'," said the 25-year-old, who joined Rhyl at the start of 2005/06.
Connolly admits saying goodbye to Rhyl this Saturday will be a very difficult experience.
"I don't really want Saturday to come," he stressed. "I've got a lot of friends at Rhyl and I don't want to leave the club. I'd like to be remembered as a player who put everything into the last five years, always gave 100 per cent.
"I'm determined to help Rhyl get through to the next round and to go out on a high note."
Despite the problems behind the scenes Connolly insists morale has remained high within the squad.
"We found it very hard at the beginning when we heard Peter Parry was pulling out and we were told of the implications, but the lads have all stuck together, winding each other up with jokes about not getting paid and Greg (Strong) and Gary Powell have been brilliant in keeping the spirits up.
"You try not to let it affect your game and the players have always kept giving it 100 per cent. I know one or two results haven't gone our way, but we've shown in the last two games especially just how much the club means to all of us."
The departure of Connolly will be particularly sad for Rhyl fans given the player's stunning form this season.
He is the Lilywhites' top scorer on 19 goals and broke a modern-day club record earlier in the campaign by netting in eight successive games.
"I set myself a target of 10 at the start of the season, but things have gone so well I'd raised my target to 25," he revealed.
"I knew when another striker came in that I wouldn't be up front that long, but I've really enjoyed scoring so many goals and would like to get up to 20 at least at the weekend.
"I had a bit of a setback with the knee injury I suffered at TNS, but that's all part of football and otherwise I've had a great season."
Connolly said his main reason for choosing Colwyn Bay was because he did not want join another Welsh Premier club and risk facing his beloved Rhyl.
"I'd had four or five offers from Welsh Premier clubs, but it wouldn't have felt right facing Rhyl and possibly upsetting them," he said. "I know a lot of the lads at Colwyn Bay, Carl Clampitt, Eddie Jebb, Gary Jones, Jimmy Kelly and of course Youngy (manager Neil Young) so I won't be going there cold.
"It's a new challenge, but all I want to think about now is Rhyl FC and Saturday's game. All my family will be there and I want to go out on a high note."
And finally, the news all Rhyl fans will be delighted to hear.
"If the club's problems are sorted out by next season I'd sign on for them again like a shot," stressed Connolly.
"There could be two happy events in August - my first baby being born and me rejoining Rhyl."
* THIS ARTICLE ALSO APPEARS IN TODAY'S DAILY POST