THE GREATEST FOOTBALLER to never win an All-Ireland title is not a welcome moniker, but one that is now surely bestowed upon Lee Keegan.
To prove the point, he is the only player to have collected five All-Star awards but no Celtic cross.
But Mayo’s failure to land the big one in recent years ought only to be a footnote in the career of arguably the county’s finest footballing product.
7-48 scored in 67 championship appearances is a stunning return for a player who primarily operated in defence. Yet those numbers fail to do justice to the magnitude of the scores in question.
The bigger the moment, the more it was relished by the Westport man. And he always did so with a smile on his face.
When Mayo needed inspiration, Keegan was on-hand.
In three consecutive championship games against Dublin, he beat Stephen Cluxton and found the net. That is a stat the envy of every forward in the game.
He had little regard for the concept of momentum. In the 2021 All-Ireland final, Tyrone appeared to land a knock-out blow as Darren McCurry’s goal gave them a 2-10 to 0-11 lead in the second-half. Heads appeared to be dropping, but within 30 seconds Keegan had stormed up the field and fired over a point off the outside of his boot from the 45.
Such scores were commonplace. In recent years, he was always on hand when Mayo backs were to the wall. He kicked points against Galway, Monaghan and Kildare last summer to close deficits.
It was not difficult to see why he was held in such high esteem.
As James Horan transformed the panel during the course of his second stint at the helm, the totemic defender was a constant. A talent like Keegan was never going to be sacrificed in the name of transition.
That was also down to how he changed his game to adapt to both the modern sport and also the needs of Mayo.
In 2017, he played a starring role out the field in the All-Ireland final against Dublin, taking Ciarán Kilkenny all over Croke Park and subduing the Castleknock man’s impact as a result. He netted a go-ahead goal for good measure.
Fast-forward four years, his role was completely different against the Dubs. In the 2021 All-Ireland semi-final, he kept close tabs on Con O’Callaghan in the inside line. Limiting the Cuala star to just a single point across over 90 minutes of football ensured he was more than deserving of the Man of the Match award on the evening.
That display was all the more impressive, considering his struggles marking the same opponent at the same stage two years earlier.
Depending on the day, depending on the opponent, depending on the needs of Mayo, Keegan could fulfil a wide variety of roles, and execute them with equally high levels of precision.
That ability to adapt was central throughout his career. As a player who did not make the grade a minor level, he came back stronger. From his senior inter-county debut in 2011 onwards, he didn’t look back.
And he was the first name on the team sheet ever since, right up until his retirement.
That is exactly why he will be sorely missed.
In the wake of last week’s season-opener against Sligo, new boss Kevin McStay made it clear he would dearly love the Westport man to recommit for another year.
“We’re very hopeful. That question is not answered yet but it is going to be answered pretty soon,” he told RTÉ.
“We’ve obviously met and cajoled him and coaxed him and got him into headlocks and kicked him and did whatever we could with him. But it’s a big decision for him.
“He has a young family. But we are hopeful. I don’t have to tell you the sort of player Lee Keegan is or what he means to this county. We would love to have him and we’ll know very soon.
“We’ve given him all the information we could. We’ve mapped out to him what his season could look like and that all parties would be happy with. We’ve helped him any way we can and we need to see him fairly soon.”
One week later and McStay was reacting to the bad news.
Even through his PR-ed quotes in the Mayo GAA press release, you can sense his disappointment:
“Lee has represented Mayo with great distinction. He was indestructible and defiant: on the biggest days, he walked tall and proud. Lee embodied the resilience of Mayo. The example he set will continue to inspire Mayo for many years to come.”
But the new regime will now have to adapt to life after Keegan, and Oisin Mullin for that matter. The loss of probably their two most important defenders in 2022 is a significant setback, and one which could take its toll on this team’s aspirations.
There are voids to be filled on the field, but also in the changing room. A character of Keegan’s calibre is not easily replaced, one would suspect.
A hallmark of the Mayo senior footballers over the last decade has been their refusal to lie down.
But going forward without Keegan will be this group’s greatest challenge yet.