McCarthy was part of a Dublin team who were the greatest of all time. They were a juggernaut and he was an integral part of that and the system they played. Last year, particularly against Kerry, though he displayed how great he was by taking the battle to Kerry when the tide was going against him and he didn’t have much help. Mayo on the other hand played a lot on impulse and a fervent style of play in which Keegan lead from the front. Time and time again he dragged the flow with him and gave them a chance when they shouldn’t have had any. He could do it all. A pleasure to watch both players in their pomp. Keegan though, was unrivalled.
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I felt it churlish to say as I of course never saw Tommy play. He was well got as the saying goes.
James McCarthy 8-0 Lee Keegan
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Up there with the best that’s for sure, some serious tussles over the years. And unlike some of the other Mayo lads, he always stepped up to the plate for them when the going got tough
Like many of the greats though, Keegan knew when to get out
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he was defo suited to their Mayo team and able to take more risks in their helter skelter approach tearing forward as opposed to McCarthy in that Dublin team …Defo better on the front foot and attacking …They had to fish him out of the canal in 2019 when King Con sold him a dummy not once but twice for the game changing goals .
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McCarthy scored two vital points in 2017 to turn that match around in the last ten minutes.
Proper player but Keegan was really exceptional.
He was injured in 2019. He was well able for con in 2021 or whenever they beat them.
Ah come on.
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Huh? An outstanding footballer who would have held his own in any era. Fucked over by a no good journalist.
I think you are being ridiculously generous to Cassidy there.
A decent footballer and no more.
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Up there for sure, definitely from the bigger counties. Hard to really measure the value of someone like Declan Browne or Johnny Doyle etc when they were always in a poor side.
Ciaran McDonald, for a shorter period of time, was probably a better footballer than him
It’s funny that the response from de dubs is to try talk Keegan down. For all their success the inferiority complex is still there, informed by their own awareness that a couple of their all Ireland wins are owed to refs. The chip on the shoulder that just won’t go away.
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Ah here, Michael Dara McAuley was a “decent” footballer. Glen Ryan was a decent footballer. Cassidy was a substantial step up on both.
Keegan played both a man marker (against one of the best ever in Dermo) and a goal getter both at the highest level of the game.
He is incomparable in that respect. I loved Ciaran McDonald but he was a completely different player and he couldn’t compete with Keegan in terms of impact.
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One of the best players never to win an All Ireland?!
Come off it.
You’d be at nothing having the conversation and not including him as one of the best player not to win an All Ireland.
Darren Daly 6-1 David Clifford
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And black carded in another final to stop a sure fire goal…
Great player though. Held the hopes of the 31 county army in his hands for 7/8 years til he could carry the backward fuckers no further.
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Ouch.
Twould only be a simpleton who would judge a footballer by the number of All Ireland medals he has.
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Someone stick up those AI final goals.
I’d say the one into the Canal End is in the top five final goals ever. Bursting onto it at speed, defenders trailing in his wake, perfect balance and blasting it past the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
The ground shook. What a player.
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