Lee Keegan - Mayo's heartbeat exits stage left

"We've obviously met and cajoled him and coaxed him and got him into headlocks and kicked him and did whatever we could with him. But it's a big decision for him."

Mayo manager Kevin McStay made it very clear to RTÉ Sport earlier this month that the idea of a Mayo dressing room minus Lee Keegan was not a reality they wanted to contend with just yet.

The heartbeat of the Mayo story over the last decade, 33-year-old Keegan was admired and revered the length and breadth of the county, and further afield too. It's unlikely that there has been a more popular player amongst neutrals in modern times than the Westport running man. His retirement on Monday robs us of one of the game's most exciting talents.

For 31 counties – okay, maybe including Galway is a stretch – more often than not, All-Ireland final days since 2012 have centred around hoping Mayo end their wait, curse, hoodoo – whatever you want to call it - as they tried to lift the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time since 1951.

Too often they looked set to do so, but dreams remained dreams and reality only brought heartache. Pain was felt for a county, but none more so than for Lee Keegan.

That was nothing compared to the pain felt by the Westport man himself.

His contribution to six All-Ireland finals – seven including replays – painted a mosaic of ranging emotions.

Hope: His low swerving shot to the net in the 2016 final replay against Dublin and his 2017 high finish past Stephen Cluxton – the latter putting Mayo a point ahead with less than 20 minutes remaining.

Frustration: Appearing to throw his GPS tracker at Dean Rock as the Dublin forward kicked the winning free in the 2017 decider.

Acceptance (maybe): Sitting on the Croke Park turf with Tyrone’s Peter Harte after the Red