John O'Keeffe (born 17 November 1988) is an Irish hurler who currently plays as a right wing-back for the

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

senior team. O'Keeffe made his first appearance for the team during the 2011 National League and has become a regular player over the last few seasons. Since then he has won one

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winners' medal. He has ended up as an All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion. At club level O'Keeffe plays with the Clonoulty–Rossmore club.

Playing career

Club

O'Keeffe made his senior championship debut for Clonoulty–Rossmore in 2004. He has enjoyed little success with the senior team, losing back-to-back championship deciders in 2010 and 2011.

Inter-county

O'Keeffe first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Tipperary minor hurling team. He enjoyed much success in this grade as Tipperary reached the All-Ireland decider via the "back-door" in 2006. Three-in-a-row hopefuls

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

provided the opposition, however, Tipp powered to 2–18 to 2–7 victory. It was O'Keeffe's sole All-Ireland medal in that grade. O'Keeffe subsequently joined the Tipperary under-21 team. He won a

medal in this grade in his debut season following a controversial one-point defeat of

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. Tipp later reached the All-Ireland, however, O'Keeffe's side were defeated by Kilkenny. In 2011 O'Keeffe made his senior debut for Tipp in a

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

game against

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. His first championship start came later that year against

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. A 7-19 to 0-19 trouncing of Waterford in the subsequent provincial decider gave O'Keeffe his first

medal. For the third successive year, Tipperary faced off against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final, however, on this occasion Kilkenny were slight

underdogs An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

going up against the new champions. Kilkenny started quickly and never surrendered the lead in the 2-17 to 1-16 victory. O'Keeffe was dropped from Tipperary's starting fifteen in 2012 but remained on the extended panel of players. He announced his retirement from inter-county hurling in October 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeeffe, John 1988 births Living people Clonoulty-Rossmore hurlers Tipperary inter-county hurlers