Paul Keegan (born 30 December 1972) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Keegan was the first Irishman to play in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

in the United States. Keegan joined

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

from schoolboy football team Crumlin United, where he broke the scoring record for the club with 33 goals in 29 games in 2001. In 1992, after his first year with Pat's and Brian Kerr's successful side, Keegan accepted the offer of a soccer scholarship by

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

where he learned his trade under the tutelage of renowned coach Ed Kelly. Keegan represented his country in the World University Games in Buffalo, USA in 1992. After a successful college career, which seen him win Big East Rookie of the Year, Big East Player of the Year and All American honours twice, Keegan was drafted by the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

as their number one pick in the first ever

MLS college draft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual Draft (sports), college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada. It takes place in January and is used by teams to select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been s ...

in 1996 by Frank Stapelton. Keegan stayed with the 'Revs' for 5 successful seasons until 2000. In his last season with the Revs, Keegan was honored with Bostons prestigious 'Sportsman of the Year Award' for outstanding service to the community. In 2000 Keegan played four times for the Boston Bulldogs in the US A-League to help recover from an ACL knee injury. Keegan got his first taste of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

football when he was loaned to

in 1999 because of the long off season in the MLS. Playing mostly off the substitutes bench, Keegan helped Pats secure their second successive league championship. At the end of his loan spell he returned to New England. The following year he returned home to Ireland and joined

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

and his performances there earned a move to title chasing

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

in 2002. Bohemians won the league in Keegan's first season as he developed a great relationship with league leading scorer,

Glen Crowe Glen Crowe (born 25 December 1977) is an Irish professional football forward who plays for Malahide United in the Leinster Senior League. He was a prolific goalscorer in the League of Ireland Premier Division and has represented the Republic ...

. He won the goal of the year award for his famous over head kick versus Bray Wanderers. In 2004, Keegan joined

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

and ended the season by scoring the winning goal in the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

final. Keegan joined his childhood team, St Patrick's Athletic for the second time as manager

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...

looked for experienced strikers to add to his young team. After a year back with St Patrick's and an outstanding year in partnership with Trevor Molloy which seen them score 35 goals between them, he moved to

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

in January 2007 for an undisclosed fee and to be with his family. He moved to Scotland's

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in August 2007, he joined

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

in the

Scottish Football League Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

. Keegan helped the Sons to win the Third Division championship in May 2009. In his last year of professional football, Keegan signed for Airdrie United on 22 July 2009..

Honours

Bray Wanderers * League of Ireland Division 1: 2001 Bohemians *

: 2003 Longford Town *

: 2004 *

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

: 2004 Dumbarton *

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

: 2009

References

External links

Paul Keegan @ stpatsfc.comNew England Revolution place Keegan on waiverKeegan chosen 6th overall in 1996 college DraftPaul Keegan's WTFC.net player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan, Paul 1972 births Living people Association football forwards Association football midfielders Association footballers from County Dublin Beith Juniors F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Boston College Eagles men's soccer players Boston Bulldogs (soccer) players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Connecticut Wolves players Dumbarton F.C. players Republic of Ireland association footballers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players Major League Soccer players New England Revolution players Seacoast United Phantoms players League of Ireland players Motherwell F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Worcester Wildfire players A-League (1995–2004) players USL Second Division players New England Revolution draft picks Crumlin United F.C. players