Lee Keegan's aims the same despite changed perspective

Lee Keegan's days of roaming forward and pitching in with a crucial score aren't over, but the five-time All-Star acknowledges that his role has changed in the last 24 months.

The Westport man scored some iconic goals in big games for the Green and Red over the years, perhaps most memorably in All-Ireland finals against Dublin.

When he smashed one into the Hill 16 goal mid-way through the second half of the 2017 decider there was a feeling in the ground that finally it was going to be Mayo's day on the biggest of them all. Alas, for Keegan and his team mates, it wasn't to be.

With his 33rd birthday ahead of him this October, Keegan is mindful of what he can still do, and what is beyond him, and a switch into the full-back line means he can manage his work-rate more in matches.

"It's definitely a new perspective on Gaelic," he says at the launch of the John West Féile 2022.

"It's a good challenge, I enjoy it. It shows James has a lot of trust in me still to mark some of the top guys out there. It's interesting, at times.

"But I do enjoy it. If I look at my career over 10, 12 years I've gone from an out-and-out attacking half-back to being solely a corner or full-back with the option of sometimes going out to the half-back line. So I'm gone from a freelance scorer to whatever I am at the moment."

So are the days of Keegan majors a thing of the past?

"James still gives me licence to get forward as best I can" he points out.

"I'm probably just a bit smarter in how I do it. I can't do what I did when I was 23, 24 and make 15 runs a half. I have to be a bit smarter with how I use my runs and energy. It has definitely changed. It's a challenge and I'm enjoying it."

Keegan's man-marking is one of his many strengths and it's still