2012, after the arrivals of Billy Sharp and Tadanari Lee, Connolly lost his place in the starting eleven, and was released at the end of the season. On 31 December 2012, Connolly signed a one-month contract with Portsmouth. He made his debut a day later, against Swindon Town. He scored his first goal for Pompey on 26 February, against Milton Keynes Dons. He scored his second goal on 2 March, in a 2–1 win against Crewe Alexandra. On 9 March, Connolly scored twice in a 2–0 win against Bury. He left the club by mutual consent on 15 January 2014. Connolly joined Oxford United on 31 January 2014 – deadline day – until the summer. He scored on his debut against AFC Wimbledon, after coming on as a 46th-minute substitute. His goal against Hartlepool on 21 March 2014 at the age of 36 years, 9 months and 15 days made him the club's oldest scorer to date. On 15 January 2015 Connolly joined AFC Wimbledon, becoming the sixth player (the others being Jermaine Darlington, Marcus Gayle, Jason Euell, Roger Joseph and Neil Sullivan) to play for both the original Wimbledon and AFC Wimbledon. On 21 February 2015, during one of his final games with AFC Wimbledon, Connolly scored a late winner against local rivals Luton Town to win the game 3–2. On 7 March 2015, Connolly retired from playing. International career Connolly was a regular member of the Republic of Ireland national team, scoring nine goals in 41 caps. He made his debut on 29 May 1996 against Portugal. He was sent off in 1997 after coming on as a substitute against Belgium in the play-off for a place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with Ireland losing by an aggregate score of 3–2. Connolly was part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad that lost to Spain in the knockout stage, where his penalty kick was saved by Iker Casillas during the shootout. He scored for Ireland in Niall Quinn's benefit match on 14 May 2002, against his former club, Sunderland as well as once in Mick McCarthy's testimonial on 26 May 1996 against Celtic. In the 2007–08 season Connolly failed to feature in any of Steve Staunton's squads, despite being Sunderland's top goalscorer, although he was called in to Giovanni Trapattoni's first 40-man squad in 2008 despite being injured at the time. Career statistics Club International Scores and