By Cian O’Connell

“You will never replace the buzz of championship, that is what you live for,” Lee Keegan responds when asked what it is like having a watching brief for the 2023 All-Ireland SFC.

“That is what I lived for long enough. The fact I had drawn a line in the sand - where I am in life, what I'm doing in terms of family and work, I can't say I don't miss it, but I don't have a regret that I made the decision for myself.”

Different opportunities now exist for the Westport clubman. There is an appreciation for the game and the possibilities sport brings.

“I actually really enjoy watching games, talking about them, taking in different styles of play and what players do,” Keegan continues.

“I suppose because when you are in the environment of playing with a squad you are solely looking at yourself and how you can get better within that squad, to make players better.

“I'm getting to see it from a total different perspective now - how teams operate, how guys are working, what way they play. I haven't had time to start thinking about being involved too often.

“I'm sure not getting too many calls to go back in either - I think they are doing okay without me or Oisín (Mullin) so far.

“Again you will never ever replace that buzz and atmosphere. For myself personally I miss it, but not as much as I probably thought myself. I'm enjoying the different side of the game, seeing what goes on in that background too.”

Undoubtedly there was hard graft for more than a decade in the green and red. Stirring successes, demoralising defeats, but it was always a rollercoaster. The full gamut of emotions were experienced.

Has Keegan reflected on his inter-county exploits since retiring? “I haven't really,” Keegan responds instantly.

“Probably more my family have, they have done more talking about it, the good stories they have. Because I'm involved in the club still - and we have a really good team - we won our club championship last year and are looking to go really well again, if possible.

“I then went straight into the RTE side of things, so I haven't had a huge deal of time to reflect as much as I probably should have. At the same time what would I be reflecting on? I'm not sure yet, that is the other side.

“Do I define myself by not having an All-Ireland? I don't. I never did anyway. I don't forecast that I will either. I'd never define my career by medals, I'd define it by how I went out to try to play the game. Just the journey, I loved the journey of it.”

That element is critical for Keegan. “Cillian O'Connor always said a medal is just a by product of the journey,” Keegan says. “You still have to move on to the next adventure some way or another. Regardless of whether we won the All-Ireland or not, would it make me any happier or better? I don't believe so.

“Would I'd have loved to have won it? 100 per cent, of course that is the goal essentially. For me it was about the craic over the 12 years, the journey, experiences, the fun in Croke Park, the battles, all those things. I try not to get too sentimental because I'm still playing, I want to stay hard edged a bit.

“Certain times I smile about the 12 years, some of the mad stuff I did and the guys did. I love hearing the family talk about the stories and some of the experiences they had.

“That is where I get a fun factor out of it. The scares and the heart attacks, the mad moments, it is probably better craic listening to that than listening to me.”

Keegan embarked on some thrilling All-Ireland qualifier trips when Mayo responded to setbacks in Connacht before making a bold bid for national honours.

Can the current Mayo panel learn anything from those campaigns? “As disappointing as it was to lose to Roscommon, you have a couple of factors in that,” Keegan says. “The turnaround time from league to championship was quite difficult, I'd say that about any team having to do that.

“I think when you win a national title you have to enjoy it, to celebrate it in some capacity. The fact they had to turn a switch to be in championship mode straightaway is not easily done.

“You are still on a high for a few days after winning a national medal. We know in Mayo they aren't easy won and you take great pride in them. Another thing is they had gone through a rigorous pre-season and tough league campaign, I just don't think the level of demand they had on themselves was going to be sustainable for the whole year.

“I know it is condensed, but when you put the amount of games they have coming up versus the training they are doing or had done, in hindsight, a couple of weeks break might do them the world of good.”

The rest and recuperation spell should benefit Mayo according to Keegan. “I know they had two weeks off training, they got to go on holidays, spend time with family and friends,” he adds.

“No training, just declutter, get on with life, reset to come back in to be very hungry to work. That is where we will see the best out of Mayo in the group stages - where they might go on an adventure to start taking on teams.

“The positive I see for Mayo is being seed three isn't a bad thing either. They don't have Tyrone to worry about, Roscommon are seeded third. In the grand scheme of things it isn't working out too badly for them.

“I think Mayo getting a really big team in the group will bring the best out of them. I think they need that to see where they really are at. Then we can see how capable they are of challenging for Sam Maguire this year. I think that will paint a bigger picture about what they are gearing up for.”

Winning a Mayo SFC title with Westport at the end of last year brought joy for Keegan, who fully appreciates what is happening in the club.

“When I was growing up Westport were senior initially, we won the intermediate, it was all great,” he reflects. “Things just took a turn. With different sports going on if you don't do well at the top table you'll never get the evolution of your younger lads coming through.

“Now we are doing well we have such a conveyor belt of youth coming through at the moment at underage. We are really strong and prominent, we are winning a lot of U14, 16, minor - being competitive at least.

When you have that and you have big numbers being used the right way - which the club is doing - you are going to do well.

“Two years previously we got to a semi-final, we just weren't ready. Naivety and game management we just didn't have, we got a new management that got us over the line. They brought a bit of a hard edge to us, we were harder to beat. It was great, brilliant, now as a result we have four adult teams.”

Challenges, though, exist and must be embraced. “We have monster numbers in the club, we are always trying to evolve and develop as a club,” Keegan states. “It is great times at the moment. We were long enough probably looking at rugby and soccer as the dominant forces in Westport because they were doing so well at the top table. That is what happens.

“If they do well they will pull the youth with them and the supporters, the finance and all the things that go with it. Now all of a sudden we have a club that is thriving.”

Connecting with the community in a meaningful way is critical according to Keegan. “Winning helps, but the right people are in the right places and they are doing the right things,” he says.

“They are trying to bring in good stuff that works for people. When you engage well with the community - like they are - that is when all the things pull together.

“We are very lucky at the moment we have people doing that. We are quite spoilt with what we have. We have the biggest club numbers in Mayo, that will tell you where we are as a club and where we are trying to progress to.

"We are building a new Croke Park sized pitch - although it is delayed like everything else in the world - that is in the pipeline.

“A lot of stuff is going on in the background, but for the players we need to worry about making sure we do well again this year.

“If we do well again this year that just brings more people along for the ride and the journey. That is important because we need the youth coming in. I'm no spring chicken anymore, I need young lads carrying me over the line for the next four or five years.”

A generational talent, Keegan, helped to carry Mayo and Westport for long enough.