Last Sunday, Lee Keegan helped Mayo to their first ever All-Ireland Intermediate victory. Last night, he came off the Mayo bench to kick two points in a win over Roscommon.
His appetite for success has certainly not been sated by club success.
After a couple of hard days of celebrating with his Westport teammates, coaches, friends, family and supporters, Keegan screwed his head back on and turned his focus to the Allianz Leagues. Having lost their opening Division 1 fixture to Monaghan, the men from the West are dangerously close to must-win territory.
Ahead of that win over the Rossies, Keegan caught up with SportsJOE GAA editor Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour Football Show. His words about the next generation of Mayo’s footballing talents are genuinely exciting. But first, he began by reflecting on a piece of Westport GAA history:
“It’s a good feeling; a sore feeling. It’s more of a relief to get your hands on a Celtic Cross. It is something that me and my teammates will have for the rest of our lives and we’ll look back on it as a proud, proud day.
“Sunday was a great, old time. There was a big homecoming for us and when we got down it was brilliant. Three or four thousand people came out to see us at 12 o’clock. It was good craic. We had a really good celebration on Monday. It was good to see everyone there and enjoying it. It’s something we are trying to put all the pieces back.”
Having led by 10 at one stage, Westport conceded a slew of late scores and were eventually grateful that a last-minute free dropped short and saw them home by one, precious point.
Keegan admitted his heart was in his mouth as the free was being taken. He said:
“A sinking feeling started coming back in and we were thinking – this is never going to be our day. I tell you, I was never a more relieved man than when that ball dropped short and our keeper got his hands on it because they seemed to have more momentum in the last 10, 15 minutes and we gave them too much incentive to come back.
“They really fought for everything towards the end. That was one of the things we identified with them – if you look at all of their games, they played for the full 60 minutes. From our perspective, it was disappointing that we didn’t close out the game better than we should have. We were the better team, I felt, overall.
“I got that sinking feeling though, and thought if this ball goes over, it could have been good-night because they had all the momentum. I was just thankful that the ball dropped short as it would have been another tough one to take.”
The ball did drop short and finally, finally Keegan tasted All-Ireland glory at Croke Park.
Interestingly, Keegan believes his past All-Ireland heartaches with Mayo may have steeled him and helped him pass on words of support to his clubmates. He said:
“I was lucky enough in that I was able to experience massive games with Mayo because of the team we have. With Westport, it was only a dream really, us playing in Croke Park.
“All the losses and hurt, you have to make up for it some way and Sunday really put a lot of them to rest. It’s made the old man a very happy man.
“It’s made a lot of us happy for the rest of our lives and I suppose with these lads, in about 20 years time, we can look back and talk about it over coffee, or a drink or something. I can’t wait to reflect on it when my career is over.”
Won the @AIB_GAA All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship… #ThingsLeeDid#TheToughest pic.twitter.com/xniznNZPdc
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 19, 2017
As for that next generation, Keegan had nothing but praise for the likes of Leaving Cert students Oisín McLoughlin and Colm Moran. His comments will excite just about every Mayo football fan. He commented:
“We went up a day early and had a look around Croke Park. It got the awe factor out of the way, for a lot of lads that wouldn’t have played in Croke Park… It was good craic, the night before, and it was good to have the young guys around like Oisín and Colm. They’re good craic and they’re not shy either. I’m sure Colm is getting the hair done today for another show on the beer!
“The likes of Oisín came into Croke Park on Sunday and took the game by the scruff of the neck. It’s the phrase I used, kids with big balls. They just went out there and played their own way and didn’t try change the way they play. At the end, that was the biggest factor in us winning the game.”
This bodes well for the future. If the likes of Keegan, the Connollys and the O’Sheas can’t get Sam Maguire in the next couple of years, help is not far off.
Listen to the full Lee Keegan interview by tapping ‘Play’ on the podcast below.
