And so ends the career of the great Lee Keegan.
The heartbeat of the Mayo team for over a decade, the Westport man has retired from intercounty football.
It’s a huge loss to Mayo football and a monumental blow to Kevin McStay, but it’s also a massive gut-punch to GAA fans up and down the country.
READ MORE: Lee Keegan - The Ultimate competitor: an unrivalled force of nature
Over the years, the Westport wing-back has played in some of the biggest games of all time, marked the best forwards of his generation and forced them to work back the other way.
7-48 in 69 Championship appearances epitomises Lee Keegan - The ultimate big match player.
He may never have gotten his hands on a Celtic cross, but does that really matter? The memories he made for Mayo fans and GAA fans in general will not be forgotten.
Let’s take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane and remind ourselves of just how good a player Lee Keegan was.
Goal in 2016 All Ireland final
The most typical Mayo goal. An accurate pass from Seamie O’Shea to his brother Aidan. Keegan coming off the shoulder like a train, and a supremely cool finish to match.
The Westport man’s involvement in this final didn’t last too long courtesy of a harsh black card. But when he was on the pitch, as he always did, Keegan made sure he had a part to play.
Goal in 2017 All Ireland final
Keegan’s second All-Ireland final goal in as many years against Dublin.
While the 2016 goal came early in the day, his strike in 2017 came midway through the second half, during the very heart of the contest.
The players involved in the move are a who’s who of Mayo legends. Aidan O’Shea feeds Cillian O’Connor. O’Connor finds Moran. And again, it’s Keegan who comes off the shoulder having ran the length of the field to bury the ball into the roof of the net.
A stunning goal that put Mayo a point up with just 17 minutes to play and made many feel that the drought was over.
Dean Rock GPS incident
An unsavoury scene sure, but one that showed just what Keegan was willing to do to get Mayo over the line.
With the last kick of the game in the 2017 final, Dean Rock lined up a long range free-kick. As he begins his run-up, Keegan, who had discreetly dislodged the GPS monitor in the back of his jersey, tosses it behind Rock in an attempt to put him off.
Rock didn’t crumble and proceeded to nail the free and break Mayo’s hearts for the second year in a row.
A charge often levelled at Mayo is that they didn’t have that killer instinct, that ruthless, relentless will to win. That however, is an accusation that can’t be put at Keegan’s feet.
Battles with Diarmuid Connolly
While Dublin v Mayo is the rivalry that defines this era, Keegan v Connolly is surely the matchup that epitomises it.
In five Championship matches marking each other, the pair scored 1-4 apiece.
From play.
The two stars of their respective squads got to grips with each other, literally, on a number of occasions which just raised their rivalry even higher.
Ultimately, Connolly got the medals, but Keegan walked away with his reputation enhanced having gone toe to toe with arguably the most talented footballer of his generation.
Point v Tyrone in 2021 All Ireland final
In years to come, 2021 may well be looked back upon as the last dance for this great Mayo team.
While they reached the 2020 final where they were once again beaten by the Dubs, no-one expected Mayo to get the better of the men from the capital in the 2021 semi-final.
Six points down at half time, Keegan, as he always did, stepped up. Mayo clawed it back level, made it to extra-time and got the three point win.
In the final, they never showed up.
But once again, when Mayo needed him most Keegan delivered. Seconds after Darren McCurry’s goal made it a five-point game, Keegan scored a stunning outside of the boot point.
On the next play, Keegan won the free and Ryan O’Donohue clipped over. Two scores off the back of Keegan’s work when Mayo needed it most.
On the pitch after defeat to Kerry in 2022
When we saw the images of Keegan disconsolate at the end of Mayo’s All Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry, we all feared we had seen the end of one of the greats.
Sadly, that fear has come to pass.
That image of Keegan on the field with his daughters Rhia and Lile was one of the great sporting images of the summer.
In his retirement statement, Keegan stated his desire to spend more time with his young family. Sheer class again, from a man who could have carried on for another few years.
Careers are unfortunately sometimes measured in All-Ireland medals. Keegan’s shouldn’t be. No man has ever done more for their county to get over the line than the Westport man.
And what better legacy is there than that?
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