Lee Keegan leaves a gaping hole in Mayo's defensive line, with the great announcing his retirement from intercounty football ahead of the 2023 season.
One of the stars of Mayo's recent golden age, Keegan won seven Connacht titles and five All-Stars during an illustrious career, but an All-Ireland intercounty medal was the one thing lacking from his trophy cabinet.
Mayo reached six finals during Keegan's time in the setup, losing four of those to the dominant Dublin in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2020.
When asked by the Mayo Football Podcast this week who the toughest player he had ever marked was, Keegan's answer was always going to come from that Dublin team. He chose retired forward Diarmuid Connolly, with whom he shared many memorable tussles in Croke Park over the years.
Lee Keegan on his toughest defensive assignment
1 October 2016; Diarmuid Connolly of Dublin and Lee Keegan of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Two men who defined the iconic Dublin v Mayo rivalry of the mid-2010s were Diarmuid Connolly and Lee Keegan, with the pair regularly marking each other on the biggest stage in All-Ireland finals and semi-finals.
One of the most gifted forwards of his generation, Connolly always possessed a threat from open play, but Keegan was one of the few backs in the country able to tame the Vincent's man.
Speaking this week to the Mayo Football Podcast, Keegan spoke about Connolly in glowing terms, saying he was the toughest player he had ever marked. He said Connolly had the "X-Factor", and humbly suggested that he enjoyed the challenge of marking a player he described as "better" than him.
Keegan said:
When I got to mark Diarmuid Connolly...that's the guy, that's the X-Factor, that's the trust that you're taking on the alpha male of their team.
That's who I got and who I loved marking - probably because I knew he was better than me. I've no qualms about saying that either. That made me a little bit better and sharper, knowing that this kid is definitely a 10/10 in terms of how he plays, he had that X-Factor.
We had some great duels down through the years, I loved every bit of it with him. Definitely a guy who had me thinking a little bit extra overnight maybe before games - and rightly so, because he just had the wow factor every time you looked at him playing. I loved watching him play - bar [against] us - because he just had something different about him every time he played.
‘Diarmuid Connolly had the X-Factor’
No surprise to hear who Lee Keegan felt was his toughest opponent during his Mayo career!
Hear the full exclusive interview with Lee here: https://t.co/wDomAR2lHK #mayogaa #GAA pic.twitter.com/XMXI76Mr59— Mayo Football Podcast (@MayoPodcast) January 16, 2023
The rivalry between Keegan and Connolly was brutal at times, bringing out the best and worst in both players. Keegan would receive a black card while marking the Dubs forward in the 2016 final replay, just over a year on from Connolly's red card for throwing a punch at the Mayo man in the 2015 semi-final.
Nonetheless, it is amazing to hear Keegan speak so highly of one of his greatest ever adversaries, despite their numerous clashes on the field.
Keegan would also pay tribute to Connolly's teammate Con O'Callaghan, who became a focal point of the Dublin attack in the years around Connolly's departure from the camp in 2019.
With both Diarmuid Connolly, and now Lee Keegan, departed from intercounty Gaelic football, one of the central focuses of the great Dublin v Mayo rivalry has departed with them.
SEE ALSO: 'Laochra Gael' Announce Stellar Lineup For New Series Coming To TG4
