Tommy Keenan provided leadership and inspiration in the west

By Cian O’Connell

Everybody will talk about the glint in Tommy Keenan’s eyes when football was being discussed, especially when talk turned to Dunmore MacHales or Galway.

That is just the way it was. So, for the past few days in the west, stories about Keenan’s decency, leadership, and inspiration are being swapped.

Along with his distinguished brother, John, three All-Ireland SFC titles on the spin were collected by Galway. Those involved during that time are still revered in Galway, and a love for the game has been passed through the generations.

Keenan’s grandchildren play football, his sons are quietly carrying out valuable work in clubs, improving players, supplying a sense of joy. It is what Keenan craved and wanted.

If the 60s were the salad years for Galway, the John O’Mahony era wasn’t too far behind. Galway were relevant on the national stage: respected and admired. Some of the players representing Galway in that spell benefited from Keenan’s support and guidance.

Traditionally, the art of forward play always counts in Galway. Skill and invention mean so much. As a boy, Derek Savage, who developed into a classy Galway corner forward, enjoyed going to Lavally NS, where Keenan worked as a teacher and principal. “We all extend our condolences to the Keenan family, Tommy was, for me, my first football coach, my first mentor in football in Lavally National School,” Savage says.

“He was a teacher and in later years became a friend, he was a very good friend of the family, my father and him were great friends, they played golf together, played chess together.

“He was a very interesting man. There were a lot of strings to his bow, he was very funny, a genial man to spend time with. Obviously, he did great things on a football pitch for Galway and coaching. He was a real all-rounder and a great man.”

Savage fondly remembers winning the 11-a-side Cumann na mBunscoil title with Lavally NS, defeating Carrabane in the decider of a fiercely contested competition. “I think in 1990, we won three trophies that were available to win that year, it was a unique year for Lavally,” Savage says.

Keenan was a supportive figure. Ready, willing, and able to help others. “The biggest influence he had on me was in primary school,” Savage says.

“Tommy was the type of a fella, he encouraged you to find your own style, to express yourself really in your own way.

“He would give guidance; it wasn’t a very strict approach to coaching. It was always a very open environment, he enjoyed football, he wanted us to enjoy our football. That is the biggest thing I’d have taken from him.”

Savage proudly represented Cortoon Shamrocks for decades. In north Galway, where football is on the agenda his schooldays were joyful. “We knew that he had played for Galway, we knew he had All-Ireland medals,” Savage says.

“That did lend a lot of extra weight to everything he was saying. It would give you confidence, that he was able to achieve at that level.

“We certainly listened to everything he said on the football pitch. That link to the three in a row team, it gave us great confidence and gave a lot of weight to what he was telling us.”

Savage starred for Galway in All-Ireland senior triumphs. Some of his colleagues on those teams benefitted from Keenan’s guidance too.

In 1986 John Tobin, another cherished figure in Galway, assembled an impressive backroom team to guide a talented minor panel. Ultimately, All-Ireland glory was attained. From the starting XV, Tomás Mannion, Kevin Walsh, and Brian Silke went on to triumph at Croke Park in the senior ranks.

Several of the team graduated to the senior ranks, while Alan Mulholland, Tommy Finnerty, Walsh, and Silke were involved in Galway managements at the highest level. Keenan contributed handsomely to that success according to Tobin. “He was great, he had a lovely, relaxed disposition,” Tobin says.

“He was wonderful at cultivating relationships. He also had a great insight into the game, he was very experienced from the three in a row. He had a lovely way of communicating with the lads. He had his own little way of motivating them. He had a very soft, welcoming personality.”

Long before there was talk about culture in the sporting realm, Keenan proved his worth as an educator or tutor. “He reflected the profession he was in; he was a wonderful teacher,” Tobin reflects.

“I’ll always remember that, plus he had a most fantastic sense of humour. He was very laid back. There was never such thing as a difficult position or if you found yourself in a difficult position throughout the course of a game, Tommy was always unperturbed. He was a person like that, he’d have wise counsel all the time.”

A kind word, a nod of appreciation supplied by Keenan to keep the mood hopeful, that Galway could prevail. “He was very soft spoken, but what he said, you listened,” Tobin remarks.

“He had a lot of wisdom, he had information, he experienced it. He had a lovely way of imparting information. Strangely enough, that is the third one of our selectors, Mattie (McDonagh), Séamus O’Grady, and Tommy, three are gone now.”

Decades later, Tobin acknowledges that win helped Galway teams believe, while also maintaining links with 60s through Keenan and McDonagh’s involvement. “It was very magnanimous on behalf of the two of them, bearing in mind that Mattie had been manager of the senior team,” Tobin says.

“He was successful, then ’83 was challenging times, both Mattie and Tommy, icons in the game, came back to contribute to that. They were very significant.

“When fellas move on and when they’re legends in the game, sometimes they’re reluctant to come back down the ladder to get involved again. They were more than willing. It was marvellous for the lads to have people with that kind of personality and experience involved.”

The esteemed Gay Mitchell first played senior for Dunmore in the summer of 1967 as a teenager. Mitchell subsequently wore the Galway goalkeeping jersey with trademark calm and assurance.

When his playing career finished, Mitchell, with all the proper Dunmore traits helped emerging Galway goalkeepers in underage set-ups, including the current incumbent Connor Gleeson.

Mitchell never wanted the limelight, merely to provide support. Just the same as he received from some of Galway’s most gifted players. “I was very young when I started playing senior with Dunmore, I was only 17,” Mitchell says.

“Tommy, John (Keenan), John Donnellan, Pat Donnellan, Séamus Leyden, and Bosco (McDermott) were all on the team, they were All-Ireland winners.

“Tommy was dead sound. All those lads were really good, very protective. Tommy was playing corner forward, I was at the other end of the field, they were very encouraging and welcoming. They looked after me, very much so.

“I’d always appreciate the time they gave me when I was a young, impressionable young fella. It was a wonderful time.”

Mitchell vividly remembers 1970, his first campaign with the Galway seniors when Keenan was captain. “Tommy was a character all on his own,” Mitchell laughs.

“He was very witty. He was a lovely singer; he didn’t have to be asked twice to sing songs after games. When I came on the Galway team in 1970, Tommy was captain of the team.

“We got to the All-Ireland semi-final, we had won in Connacht, Meath beat us, and they were beaten by Kerry in the final. Tommy was a really nice guy, he was great company, you’d love to be in his company.

“You’d be completely in awe, these were the lads you were running out on the field, jumping on top of them after winning All-Irelands. Then, you were in the same dressing room, playing for Dunmore. It was an awesome experience.

“It was a magic time for Galway football, being in four All-Irelands in a row, ’63, ’64, ’65 and ’66. These were our heroes. We tried to emulate them on the field.”

Before the 2022 All-Ireland SFC Final, a gorgeous picture was taken in Dunmore featuring club president Tommy Keenan and Gleeson. Keenan helped Dunmore MacHales when he could, and Mitchell relished playing under his stewardship. “Tommy had real leadership, he had his own, special way,” Mitchell says.

“He had his own way and style of doing things. He managed us at club level later on. We had wonderful times at the matches. He had his own style of management, his own way, and it was very pleasant to play for him.”

For a football person, there is no higher praise.