David Connolly may be pardoned if he feels tempted these days to cast an envious eye at Niall Quinn, the man he formerly partnered up front for the Republic of Ireland.

On Wednesday, as Connolly sat at home and fretted about his future, Quinn, reborn, was carrying the hopes of thousands of Sunderland supporters in the League Cup semi-final against Leicester City.

And the contrast in their diverging careers will be portrayed even more starkly today when Sunderland, the Division One championship leaders, meet Wolverhampton Wanderers.

While the older man rolls up his sleeves and prepares to take his place in the cockpit for Sunderland, Connolly, almost certainly, will be heading towards the dugout and a place on the bench for the visitors.

After two career-threatening injuries, Quinn has emerged from the darkest days of his career to discover that at 32 he is still capable of striking raw fear into opposing defenders. The Wolves player, 11 years his junior, can only watch and admire from afar.

"What he's achieved has been brilliant," says Connolly. "He's had his low points, times when he must have wondered if he'd ever get himself fully fit again.

Players like Niall Quinn inspire hope in others. That's why people within the game are so happy for him."

At 21, Connolly has already had his share of highs and lows. He was still eight days short of his 19th birthday when he was capped for the first time against Portugal at Lansdowne Road on May 29th, 1996. Within the next fortnight, he had put his name on two Ireland goals, against the United States and Mexico.

That was the stuff of dreams and when he moved to Feyenoord on the expiration of his contract at Watford a year later it was interpreted as the logical progression of an outstanding talent.

Financially, the move gave him the kind of security that was the envy of his peers. Football-wise, it held so much trauma that at the end of the season he was delighted to take his leave of Rotterdam and head back to England, on a loan arrangement with Wolves.

But the English club were desperate in their determination to escape from Division One, and Connolly struggled to readjust. "I've played well at times and got some useful goals. But I didn't stay in the first team for as long as I would have wished.

One of the reasons was the change of managership, which saw Colin Lee take over from Mark McGhee. Another was the brilliant form of Robbie Keane.

"The new manager doesn't fancy the idea of going with two small players up front. And with Robbie doing so well, it meant that I was the one who ended up on the bench."

Like so many who make it big in their teenage years, Connolly feels he is unfairly judged by some of the older generation. He was sent off in the World Cup play-off with Belgium in Brussels for kicking an opponent, but any perception of him as hot-headed is hardly fair, given that he has taken more than his fair share of stick from big, uncompromising defenders.

He feels he may also be wrongly portrayed as having a big ego, and blames the slant put on his words in media interviews.

"The impression got about that I was cocky and arrogant. That's not true. I'm still only making my way in the game and I can't afford an image like that. So I'm very wary about press interviews."

Those who work with him are happy to back up his claim of having his feet on the ground.

His compelling challenge now is to prove that in spite of the disillusionment of his experiences in Holland and his subsequent worries at Molyneux, he is still capable of delivering on an outstanding talent.

"What I need more than most is a permanent base and the opportunity of a long, settled run in

first-team football. Whether that is at Wolves or somewhere else, I don't know. But I've enough self belief to realise that it's still all there for me."

After watching glimpses of the old predatory instincts in the game against Paraguay last week, Mick McCarthy, among others, will readily concur.