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"My head was spinning" | Lee Keegan on Con O'Callaghan and that 12 minutes

Mayo's Lee Keegan joined the OTB Drive for Five special on Thursday and gave an insight into his ...



Football

"My head was spinning" | Lee Keegan on Con O'Callaghan and that 12 minutes

Mayo's Lee Keegan joined the OTB Drive for Five special on Thursday and gave an insight into his mind during Mayo's 12-minute collapse against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final. 

Mayo led 0-08 to 0-06 at half-time but after the break Dublin scored 2-6 unanswered in a twelve-minute onslaught with Keegan's man Con O'Callaghan scoring two goals.

It was the first time Keegan's direct marker had scored a goal against him in a Championship game and a situation Keegan admits he "struggled" with.

"He gave me a hard time in the second half in particular. He came out on top in terms of that he was one of the biggest differences in getting the goals at crucial times and setting Dublin up for... not an easy win but I suppose they won by 10 points in the end so.

"It probably looks like an easy win but it was that 12 minute period."

From there Dublin's dominance began to show as Mayo appeared to shrink into themselves on the Croke Park pitch.

"I suppose we fed into their superiority a bit in the second half. I think we had maybe two shots that dropped short. We didn't give Robbie [Hennelly] any platform from the kick-out.

"We went into a complete bubble where people were afraid to look for the ball. When they were in their pomp, I mean, it was just so hard to stop them.

"Your head is kind of just spinning at the time, thinking: there's runners left, there's right, do you pick up this guy, do you go to another guy.

"You just felt like it was never going to end."

Looking back at his battle with O'Callaghan, Keegan said he knew he personally had an off day but that the Dublin forward also showed his class.

"I had Con and he got the two goals in 12 minutes so my head was spinning quite a bit as well.

"It was just 12 minutes of complete dominance from Dublin but also silliness and naivety from us.

"I was on a yellow as well so he did what any great forward would do: he took me on in the one-on-one positions," Keegan said.

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Con O'callaghan Dublin GAA Lee Keegan Mayo GAA