Winter Olympics:  Keith Duggan talks to Dave Connolly, who will be seeking Winter Olympic glory in Turin while sliding close to the groundat 60 miles an hour on a tiny sled.

'It felt absolutely exhilarating," says Dave Connolly, remembering his first time. All skeleton virgins say the same thing. There are no dud experiences.

"Just to be that close to the ground and travelling at 60 miles an hour, it was a very alien sensation. I had nothing to compare it to," he says.

That was over three years ago, when Connolly was one of a handful of athletes who accepted an invitation to try out for Ireland's budding winter squad. At Salt Lake City in 2002, the country had been blindsided by the cavalier and brilliant performance of Sir Clifton Wrottesley, the blue-blooded Irish man that came within a hair's breadth of the medals.

This was something to build on but Connolly's rapid ascension from apprentice slider to one of Ireland's four Olympic representatives in Turin has been astonishing. He nailed down his qualification for the competition a matter of weeks ago when he posted a gold placing and a personal best sliding time of 49.47 seconds on the course at Konigsee. To give a yardstick, the world record is 48.6. But as Connolly says, "a second can seem like forever in skeleton, much the same as sprinting."

Before Siobhán Hoey, the Offaly bobsleigh racer, called Connolly out of the blue, he had never even heard of skeleton and was considered a diligent sprinter with UCD. His speed came in handy for the dynamic opening sprint of the skeleton race but after that four second push-off, it came down to technique and bravery. Travelling head first, just centimetres above the ice at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour, with no brakes and no steering capacity except for rotating his head or by sliding a foot along the ice, it was different.

"I was never the fastest sprinter," he concedes. "But I was very focused and very dedicated. I think maybe that is one of the reasons they called me. I always had a good mentality when it came to track and when you are sliding at 100 kilometres an hour, you do need to have a good head."

It began far away from the glistening peaks of St Moritz. The candidates turned up one windy Saturday morning in dear old Santry stadium and began pushing a sled with wheels around the track. Ireland won't be the only nation in Turin without its own skeleton course - the Netherlands and England, for instance, are in the same situation.

In order to race other courses, competitors need an FIPT licence. Once that is acquired, competitors base themselves in the frozen climes of northern Europe and spend their winters chasing out competitions. It is common in skeleton for racers to distinguish themselves almost immediately and Connolly's aptitude for the sport was apparent by the second week of the exploratory trials held in Santry.

Switching sports involved a radical change in life. He had just started with an IT company and was settling into a fairly conventional professional existence where athletics still played a strong role. Skeleton blew all that away. Although Irish Sports Council funding has made the situation easier, it is impossible for Connolly to dedicate himself all year round to the sport. So he and training partner Patrick Shannon sought to improve themselves through intense competition in a compressed winter season, driving across Europe to participate in Challenge Cup events, a tier below the marquee Grand Prix meets.

"It can become a way of life," Connolly says. "There is a fraternity there and people were very helpful to us, particularly the Americans. I think it was because they didn't really see us as a threat. Skeleton is all about trying to gain the tiniest advantages over opponents and because of that, people can be fairly secretive about what they are doing. But we found people only too happy to give us tips and tell us about good lines on the track. They were really helpful, which was surprising. The thing about skeleton is that I suppose by nature it can be classed as an extreme sport as it has that exciting dimension. I mean, you touch on five or six Gs on some of the faster courses, which is quite extreme. But in terms of the winter games, it also has tradition so it feels unique as well."

He has picked up plenty of scrapes and bruises along the way and acknowledges that skidding along the ice at speed is painful. "Makes you determined that it won't happen again," he says.

"No, it can be tough and there is an element of danger but we prepare very well and very serious injuries or fatalities are exceptionally rare in our sport."

Connolly realistically hopes to qualify for a second round run in Turin. There are 29 nations competing in skeleton and if he can make it inside the top 20, it will be an achievement. He will have the voice and experience of Wrottesley, Ireland's chef de mission in Turin, to help him along, as well as the American sliding coach Chris Hedquist, who has been a staunch supporter. Shannon is travelling as sled technician.

"Going into Konigsee, we always knew only one of us could qualify so the plan was whoever didn't would work as sled technician. We've been working towards this for the last three years so it's only fair and we have qualified for the European circuit again next year."

It was only when Connolly tried on his official Irish team uniform the fact he was representing his country finally hit him. The highs and lows of the previous two years mattered only to him and a handful of supporters. It was an isolated endeavour, a fantastic, private pursuit. In the past fortnight, the phone has been ringing a lot more and when he eyeballs the track and Turin, he will be vaguely conscious of the fact that there will be people back home tuning in to watch him.

"To go to this stage in three years does seem like a very fast thing," he says. "But from the moment I was approached by Siobhán, this was a long term plan and we were thinking in terms of Vancouver in 2010. I would love to be competing in four years' time but it does depend on a lot things. The skeleton, this whole experience, has been incredible but you can't leave everything else to one side either and suddenly find you are 28. Clifton started this and I am going out to Turin to try and post my best time. And hopefully we are going to have Irish involvement in the skeleton for many years to come."