He married Una Keaveney of Glenamaddy with whom he had children Thomas, Padraic, Marty, Seán, Kieran, Rory, Maura.
An outstanding achievement in this regard was his restoration of the Claddagh Lass, a gleoiteog that had spent nearly twenty years neglected and underwater.
Connolly became involved in local politics in the early 1980s in the campaign against plans for a raw-sewage pump plant at The Swamp (now called South Park), beside the Claddagh.
As Chairman of the Claddagh Residents Association, he and other members worked at laying pipes into Galway Bay to ease sewage problems.
Among them was the British Ambassador, who expressed a wish to sail in Mayor Connolly's Gleoiteog, though this proved impossible for security reasons.