Keegan: Paul Anthony (Paul)

2000-2005 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Dublin, Republic of Ireland: 05-07-1984

Debut: Nil

5’11” 11st 11lb (2003)

Keegan started with Home Farm and joined Leeds in August 2000 signing professional forms on 6th July 2001. Keegan played with the Leeds Juniors and sometimes the Reserve team and did make the bench for the first team at Birmingham City on 27th March 2004, but he remained unused as United, after dominating the game early, were finally sunk without trace and another nail was put into the relegation coffin. In October 2003 he was loaned to Scunthorpe United for a month but he returned after making only two substitute appearances. Loaned on 21st October he took part in a 4-1 win at Carlisle United on the same day and then came on during the 6-2 win over Huddersfield Town on 1st November before returning to Elland Road whwn his loan expired on 21st November 2003. Capped by Ireland at Youth level, he gained Under-Nineteen recognition while at Leeds, playing a full game as England won 0-1 in Dublin on 19th May 2003 and then two days later he was substituted by Leeds Juniors teammate Henry McStay with five minutes left in a 3-2 home win over Switzerland. On 19th August 2003 he was capped for the Under-Twenty-three team that won 5-1 in Poland and there was another full game while on loan to Scunthorpe as the Republic won 2-0 in Switzerland on 10th October 2003. It seemed as though Keegan might break into the Leeds first team, but with finances getting ever tighter he had trials with Hull City in May 2005 before returning to Ireland to join Drogheda United in August 2005. He soon picked up a medal when he came on as a substitute in their 2-0 win over Cork City in the Irish Cup Final. Keegan was a contender for Player of the Year in 2006-07 after a highly impressive campaign. He received rave reviews for his Ireland Under-Twenty-one performances and attracted interest from abroad as a strong midfielder, working box-to-box for ninety minutes. He picked up another medal when Drogheda won the Irish League in 2007. After being called up for the Ireland Under-Twenty-Three squad on 13th November 2007 against Slovakia, he was in the starting eleven and on 13th May 2008 he was in the run-on side against Northern Ireland. He got his third Under-Twenty-Three cap against Belgium on 21st October 2008, when he was also Captain. After a successful time at Drogheda, and after he had scored twice in twenty-eight appearances in his final season with Drogheda, he signed for Bohemians in January 2009 and slotted seamlessly into the middle of their midfield. He also captained the side when Owen Heary was been absent. After winning an Irish League Championship medal for the second consecutive year, this time with Bohemians, he also picked up an FAI League Cup winners' medal when Bohemians defeated Waterford 3-1 on 26th September 2009. Bohemians ran into financial troubles and in January 2011 he had trials with Reading and Doncaster Rovers and he signed with Doncaster on 17th January 2011 on a contract until the end of the season. He had scored six goals in sixty-four starts and three substitute appearances in the League and made four more starts in the UEFA European Championship League. He played seventy-seven minutes in a 5-2 beating at Elland Road by Leeds United on 3rd March 2011. His contract with Doncaster was extended for a further year at the end of the 2010-11 season. He made ten starts and two substitute appearances for Doncaster in the League and one substitute appearance in the League Cup, before he was released at the end of his contract in May 2012. But that was reversed and he signed a further one year contract. He led Rovers to the League One Championship in the 2012–13 season. He is presently halfway through a three year contract and has remained a regular unless injured and with a few games left in the 2016-17 season he had scored twice in the League, with goals against Notts County in 2012 and Burton Albion in 2015, and had started one hundred and seven League games and also came off the bench in seventeen more and he also had seven starts and two from the bench in the F.A. Cup, four starts and two from the bench in the League Cup and six starts in the Football League Trophy.