Paul Keegan (born 30 December 1972) is an Irish former 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 lea ...

. Keegan was the first Irishman to play in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

in the United States.

Club career

Keegan joined

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

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 university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

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.

New England Revolution

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 are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

as their number one pick in the first ever MLS college draft in 1996 by Frank Stapelton on March 4, 1996. He made his Revolution debut on April 20, 1996, coming on as a 78th minute substitute for

Geoff Aunger Geoffrey "Geoff" Edward Ramer Aunger (born 4 February 1968 in Red Deer, Alberta) is a former Canadian soccer player. He played in various Canadian leagues and the lower tiers of the English leagues system before playing in the United States in t ...

in the Revolution's first-ever win, 1-0 over the MetroStars. He scored his first Revolution goal on May 19, 1996, in the Revolution's 2-0 victory over the MetroStars. Keegan played in 27 total league matches, making 20 starts, in the Revolution's inaugural campaign, scoring four goals and adding three assists. In

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, Keegan provided the 88th-minute deciding goal as the Revolution took a 2-1 win over the

Dallas Burn Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

at the Cotton Bowl on the final day of the 1997 season, clinching the team's first playoff berth. Primarily used as a substitute, Keegan stayed with the "Revs" for 5 total seasons, making a total of 84 league appearances, scoring 7 goals and notching 10 assists. In his last season with the Revs, Keegan was honored with Boston's 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. On November 1, 2000, the Revolution placed Keegan on waivers.

Later career

Keegan got his first taste of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

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 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 ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

and his performances there earned a move to title chasing

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

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 former professional football forward. He was a prolific goalscorer in the League of Ireland Premier Division and has represented the Republic of Ireland national football team on two occasions. ...

. 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 had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

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 Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

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. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington ...

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 (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

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 and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

in August 2007, he joined

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

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) f ...

. 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, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

: 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 Men's association football forwards Men's 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 men's 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