Talented Sharpshooter Donal Keogan Consolidating his place with PJ Carroll's new look Cavan Still struggling to shake the monkey of distant glories off it's back, Cavan's GAA fraternity are on the prowl like you'd never imagine. New team manager PJ Carroll has urged the Breffni Faithful to be his eyes and ears for would-be county talent and save some Jack Charlton lineage-type research, the hunt for hitherto undiscovered True Blues could hardly be any more intensive. Fact is, in some cases, Carroll and Company have merely had to scratch the surface of Cavan's domestic shell to garner what most observers in the county feel is a squad which can go places; venues where no Cavan senior outfit has gone in twenty three years, i.e. Croke Park on All-Ireland semi final day, Perpetually topping the conversational charts, gaelic football is to Cavan what choir-singing is to the Welsh valleys. Part of the landscape and inherently parochial, football in the most southerly of Ulster counties has never lacked for characters, leaders or resected administrators. On-field winning combinations have been sadly lacking over the last two decades, it must be said. Attacking talent has been particularly hard to come by, but now the '92 season offers the prospect of change in this department. So often, the team's achilles heel, Cavan's present collection of wily front men could well prove to be the team's forte this coming season. The coming on-stream of Cavan's new team management last September and the obvious improvement in attacking resources available to them has combined to inject a new wave of interest and optimism among Cavan's legendary loyal support. The prospect of recent Railway Cup stars Fintan Cahill and Ronan Carolan coming in from the wings to boost the blues attacking options is an appetising one. So too is the spectre of the return of favourite John Brady, currently starring in the Munster club championship with Cork's O'Donovan Rossa. Add in Derek McDonnell, veteran of Cavan's last Ulster Final appearance in '83, plus former Under 21 All-Ireland '88 star Dessie Brady and the jigsaw which could fashion provincial success this year begins to come together. For many close observers of the Cavan football scene, Denn Destroyer, Donal Keogan represents the final piece in Cavan's attacking jigsaw. The theory that combinations forced to toil without regular goal-getters will inevitably fall short of achieving big time success is one of the more plausible suppositions in the GAA lexicon. Take Bernard Flynn out of the Meath '87 side, Peter Withnell from the 1991 Down team and Joe McNally out of the dublin 1983 squad and the suit doesn't really fit the character of the respective championship winning teams. In the last couple of seasons, no player in Cavan has engineered a better goal scoring record than Ballyjamesduff's best known adopted footballing son, Donal Keogan. Born and reared in the townland of Killanure, a football hot-bed in the parish of Crosserlough, the popular publican is consistency personified in front of goal, always has been. Now aged 27, Keoghan's penchant for bagging the most valuable of scores has been the hallmark of his game ever since he instinctively put on boots in the best traditions of his next of kin. Nephew of Phil 'Gunner' Brady, an All-Ireland senior medalist winner in 1947, '48 and '52, Donal Keogan wasn't so much a late developer on the football scene, rather a player undiscovered by a succession of managers of influence. A product of Saint Clare's Secondary School in nearby Ballyjamesduff, the burly full forward is one of the small breed of current county footballers who never gained minor or under 21 county team recognition. Not so much a supplier of good ball as an unerring executioner of same, word has it locally that he practically steered his club single handedly to the 1983 county minor final. Still, county selection eluded him. Rejection would likewise trail him through to under 21 level, a fate not without a considerable degree of irony. As a bustling, Jimmy Keaveney-type figure in the successful Denn assault on the county junior championship title of 1984, Keoghan's play smacked of cockiness, craft and class. Such traits remain synonymous with his onfield persona to this day. Two years later, ignored at county under 21 level, the most skilful of attackers received a senior call up from then Cavan senior team manager Eugene McGee. Keoghan's love-hate relationship with Cavan bosses was thus put in train. A senior club player with Denn as a forceful minor, a string of underage medals at domestic level had whetted his appetite for similar rewards on the county front. McGee's call up may have been belated but it was a dream come true for the regular scoregetter. A debutant against Down in the '86 National League, he was chuffed to be part of what promised to be a new beginning for the one time giants of the game. The Denn Destroyer's sojourn on the panel was, at first, brought to an untimely close within eight months of his recruitment, only for it to be resurrected before the new season had been conceived. Big-boned, naturally included to put pressure on the bathroom scales, the owner of Reasons Restaurant, Lounge and Bar in Bally'duff weathered the early storm on the inter county front to stake a permanent place in Gabriel Kelly's scheme of things following McGee's departure. A veteran of the Paddy McInerney/Tommy Galligan school of coaching when a towering youngster, the six foot one inch attacker easily consolidated his right to a place on Cavan's top twenty five list of players, assembled under the aforementioned Kelly. That more was expected of the Denn star was obvious to all within earshot of the county management set up but innate, physical hurdlers rather than anything psychological stymied the release of Keogan's brilliance. "I've always had to battle to get my weight down, even when I've trained all year long. I know it's the main drawback as far as my game is concerned but I know that if I could make the 14 stone mark, I'd be flying," admitted Cavan's leading scorer this year. Desperate to prepare himself fully for a possible recall to the county colours for this year's league and championship, the big central attacker committed himself to six weeks of hard, gruelling post summer training. Justice was indeed served and as expected, the ace sharpshooter along with club colleague and sterling defender Tommy Smith were drafted into the Cavan camp for pre-national league training. "The first couple of weeks training in Cavan were hell. Thankfully, it's got a good bit easier now and I'm moving better now than I have been for a long while. I'd say I've moved to within 50 per cent of the level of fitness I'd like to achieve," acknowledged the player whose innate confidence and self belief have always been among the strongest points of his game. Like all good forwards, Donal Keogan never shirks his responsibilities when in possession. He may not be the most mobile of players but his speed of thought and sure-footedness in possession have more than compensated in this respect. Hardly acquired traits, Donal nevertheless confides that playing inter county football is no cake walk for him. "The change from playing club football to togging out for Cavan is unreal, there's no comparison. You've a lot more time on the ball at club level. Playing against teams like Cork, Meath and other teams, everythings quicker all round. The brain needs to work quicker and the body of course, and you need to depend on a better quality of supply." Sometimes lauded by home supporters like a match winner ought to be, sometimes the butt of boo-boys who should know better, Donal Keogan is enjoying life back in the fast lane and the traditionally hugely discerning Cavan following would obviously dearly like to see him stay there. The REAL supporters in Breffni land appreciate honest, passionate and skilful footballers. Donal Keogan is at home in such company and given an injury free run up to the championship clash with near-neighbours Monaghan next May, he aims to prove it. With over six months of league matches, McKenna Cup ties and challenge games before the high profile summer knock out season comes around, the ball is certainly in Keogan's court, and he knows it. His medium to long term target is to whittle his ample frame down to a manageable fighting fit fourteen stone mass. All Cavan will earnestly hope that the county's own cruise missile will meet his target in good time for the Ulster championship first round tie at Castleblayney. Just over a year after experiencing a self-confessed nightmare game against Donegal in the 1991 Ulster championship first round tie at Ballybofey, the Denn crowd pleaser is currently cock-a-hoop as the new look Cavan team's principal scorer. In his first competitive inter county match since the Donegal replay debacle, Cavan's newest hot property went to town against a paper thin Cork full back line when both sides clashed in last month's National League tie at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Playing on a team who were ultimately out-classed, Keogan still managed to notch a highly credible 2-3 personal tally in the course of his team's 4-15 to 2-7 defeat. Keogan's burst of scores in adversary against Cork was by no means a flash in the pan. Prior to the 1991 championship, Cavan played Antrim in a tournament game in Kingscourt and the Denn Dynamo helped himself to three goals and two points. A year earlier Longford swamped Cavan in a National League match at Pearse Park. Donal Keogan still managed to bag four of his team's seven points in the course of their 0-7 to 2-14 hiding. Desperate to consolidate his place on the current Cavan team, barring injuries, his objective should surely be realised. Confidence in Cavan football circles is slowly but surely on the increase. Donal Keogan's presence on the first fifteen can only add to the new buoyancy in the camp. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 13th November 1992 Tweet

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