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Lee Keegan On Why He Made Damien Comer Inconceivably Angry During A Game 10 Years Ago

Lee Keegan On Why He Made Damien Comer Inconceivably Angry During A Game 10 Years Ago
Lee Costello
By Lee Costello Updated
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Lee Keegan may be a hero in Mayo for his efforts on the field, but those same efforts made him a villain in the eyes of other counties.

Galway often faced the wrath of Mayo and a firing Keegan during his career, and because the two sides are traditionally the most successful in Connacht, they are natural rivals anyway.

The Football Rules Committee introduced a number of amendments this week, adjusting a few of the new rules that were brought in at the start of the year.

One contentious rule that has remained untouched however, is the one where you must hand the ball back to your opponent in full.

This is of course to prevent players from kicking it away, slowing the play down, and therfore speeding the game up, and keep things flowing.

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Keegan thinks that setting the ball down on the ground would suffice, but in his latest RTE Sport column, he recalls an incident with Galway star Damien Comer, that makes him understand why the FRC are being strict with this rule.

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"Ten years ago, I did succeed in making Damien Comer angrier than anyone has ever been on a football pitch in the dying minutes of the Connacht semi-final.

"For those who remember it, Comer spent a good 20 seconds - with a face like thunder - trying to pound the ball free when it was wedged between my stomach and the ground, after I had started an impromptu wrestling match in injury-time.

"I was public enemy number one in Salthill for that afternoon and even my wife gave out to me afterwards. ("Just give the ball back, will you?").

Failure to hand the ball back to your opponent when you have been blown up for an infringement on the rules is now a 50m penalty to the opposition.

This of course, is as good as giving away score, particularly in inter-county football, so the punishment is so severe that players do not dare to try and slow the play down anymore.

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Whether the punishment fits the crime is another debate, for the last two weeks of the National League, that rule will remain the same.

SEE MORE: "Bit Rich Coming From You" - Eamon McGee On How He Would Coach Hellraising Younger Self

 

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