Diarmuid Connolly pays tribute to old Mayo adversary

Diarmuid Connolly has praised Lee Keegan’s influence after the Mayo man announced his retirement from inter-county football ahead of the 2023 season.

The pair were often found in close quarters during the fierce rivalry between the two counties in the 2010s and five-time All-Star Keegan recently singled out Connolly as his toughest opponent having found himself on the losing side in four All-Ireland finals at the hands of Dublin between 2013 and 2020.

Now Connolly has returned the compliment, saying his old foe will be a significant loss for the Mayo side.

“What a season he had last year,” Connolly told BoyleSports. “He was probably Mayo’s standout player to me. It was a bit of a shock to me to see him hang up the boots so early to be honest. He’s a guy I really admire; when he played at number five he was really hard to stop, he took your focus because he liked going forward a bit and getting on the scoreboard.

“He caught me on the hop in the All-Ireland final replay in 2016 when he got a goal off the run of play and that can knock you for six. We were lucky to win that game; they didn’t get over the line against us, so it may be disappointing for him never to get a Celtic Cross medal.

“But I have great memories of playing guys like that. He may have been sent to man-mark me, but sometimes I ended up doing the marking. A lot of sides went defensive against us, but to be fair to Mayo they went toe-to-toe and that’s why the games were so exciting and often so close.

“I don’t believe I was a better player than Lee Keegan, I just played a different game. He was a top player for the Mayo side and they’ll miss him this season.”