Dublin ace Ciaran Kilkenny says he has nothing but respect for Mayo opponent Lee Keegan.

The pair battled it out for 74 minutes of Sunday's All-Ireland SFC final before Kilkenny was issued a black card for deliberately fouling the Westport man.

Keegan's man-marking job on Kilkenny last weekend saw the latter reduced to some 40 less possessions than he had in the Dubs' semi-final victory over Tyrone, but Castleknock forward says it was all part of taking one for the team by dragging one of the opponents' best out of position.

"Yeah, I did my role for the team," Kilkenny is quoted saying by GAA.ie. "If he was going to give me extra attention, I go into different spaces and release that, so that was my role. That's the way it happens, he's a brilliant footballer, he's a great player, he's achieved a lot.

"He's a great footballer, he's a very passionate Mayo man. I have a lot of respect for him.

On the words exchanged after the final whistle, the four-time All-Ireland winner added: "(I said) Well done, you had a great year. I said we have so much respect for you, you're a great team. Every year when we've played them, we've had great battles.

"They go man to man at us we have great respect for them. They go at you, they play a good open brand of football.

"They've been a great team over the last couple of years; they've been to finals, semi-finals; whenever they did lose, they've lost to the winner. One of the best teams around."

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