Paul Anthony Keegan (born 5 July 1984) 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 ...

who last played for

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 ...

. He plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is a former Republic of Ireland U23 international.

Career

Drogheda United

Keegan signed for

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

in July 2005 having previously played for Home Farm and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. At Drogheda he earned two senior medals, the first arriving when the

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

side won 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 ...

in 2005, and two years later when they claimed the league championship, the first in the club's history. He has captained the Republic of Ireland at youth and U21 level making his debut in

Stade de la Maladière Stade de la Maladière is a multi-purpose stadium in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Neuchâtel Xamax. The stadium holds 12,000. It replaced the old Stade de la Maladière. ...

in 2003. He also played at Under 23 level. In October 2000, Keegan played for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

U16s in a qualifying tournament in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

for the

2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship The 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Championship was the 19th edition of UEFA's UEFA European Under-17 Championship, European Under-16 Football Championship. It was the last under-16 championship, before changing the name as under-17 championships. En ...

where he came up against

Andrés Iniesta Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and is the captain of J1 League club Vissel Kobe. Considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Iniesta has spent most of his ...

Bohemians

After leaving Drogheda, Keegan signed for

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 January 2009 and slotted seamlessly into his favourite position of central midfield. His status at the club rapidly grew to such an extent that he captained the side when

Owen Heary Owen Heary (born 4 October 1976, in Dublin) is an Irish professional football defender and manager. He is formerly the manager of Shelbourne in the League of Ireland First Division, the club with which he spent most of his playing career. Play ...

was absent. He claimed his first silverware for Bohs in the 2008/2009 season when they won the

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 ...

, beating

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

3–1 at the

RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...

. The success didn't end there though as Bohs subsequently won the first back-to-back titles in their 119-year history. During the 2010 season, Keegan was named captain for a

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

that would play

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in a friendly match at the newly opened

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...

. He was also named

PFAI The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland (PFAI) is the representative body for professional and semi-professional footballers in Republic of Ireland. Players from all nationalities in the League of Ireland are represented, not just Iri ...

Chairman in November 2010 replacing Stephen Rice in the position. At the end of the 2010 season, with his future at Bohs in doubt due to financial difficulties at the club, he spent time on trial at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Doncaster Rovers

After impressing on trial at Doncaster, Keegan signed for the club on 17 January 2011. In May 2012, Keegan was released by the club after the expiry of his contract. However, in an about turn by the club, on 17 July 2012, Keegan signed a new one-year deal with the South Yorkshire club. Following a successful season, and playing in pre-season friendlies, he signed another one-year deal on 25 July 2013. Keegan had a solid beginning to the season with 13 consecutive starts in League games after missing the first match, and then he picked up a hamstring injury preventing him training until January.

Waterford

In July 2017 Keegan signed for the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

league leaders

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 ...

. Just one day after signing Keegan scored his first goal for the club and it proved to be a crucial one as Waterford beat

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 ...

1–0 which kept them in the driving seat for the title. After Waterford beat

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

3–0 and

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

were defeated 3–0 by

Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Geography Cabinteely lies around the crossroads of Johnstown Road / Brennanstown Road and the Old Bray Road, and on either side of the ...

Waterford were officially crowned league champions and promoted back to the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

. Keegan finished the season with 10 appearances and 1 goal to his name as Waterford won promotion. Just after Waterford had won the league Keegan confirmed he would stay on at Waterford for the 2018 season as they returned to the

for the first time in ten years. It was confirmed one week before the 2018 season that Keegan was appointed the new captain of Waterford.

Bray Wanderers

In December 2018 Keegan signed for First Division side

. Keegan made his debut for Bray in their opening match of the 2019 season away to

. A week later he scored his first goal for Bray in a 2–0 home win over

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

. Keegan finished his first season with Bray with 26 appearances, scoring 3 goals. In November 2019 Paul signed a new contract to keep him at Bray until the end of the 2020 season.

Honours

Drogheda United *

(1):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of I ...

(2):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

(1):

Bohemians *

(1):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

(1):

(2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Doncaster Rovers *

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

(1): Champions:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Waterford *

(1):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan, Paul 1984 births Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Living people Home Farm F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players League of Ireland players Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Scunthorpe United F.C. players Bohemian F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Association football midfielders League of Ireland XI players Republic of Ireland under-23 international footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers English Football League players People educated at St. Declan's College, Dublin