Madness of Football Podcast: John Keenan's tribute to Seamus Leydon and Galway's treble

LEGEND: John Keenan and Seamus Leydon (pictured) grew up together, played together and won together. Pic: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE

He can see it still. Maroon and white, his childhood friend, the ball, all flowing forward. John Keenan looks off into the distance, plays back the mental passage and smiles.

The pinnacle of their triumph came in 1966. Galway overcame Meath 1-10 to 0-7 in the All-Ireland final, the day they delivered the three-in-a-row and a fitting starting point for ‘The Madness of Football’ podcast series.

Keenan has invited us into his Dunmore home to revisit that victory and reminisce on its legacy. He started corner-forward. Seamus Leydon, corner forward on the first ever All-Star team in 1971, was outside him on the wing. They grew up together, played together and won together.

The day before our scheduled meeting, Leydon died, aged 81. He passed away in his adopted home of Naas. First Keenan made arrangements for his daughter to come and accompany him to the funeral. Then he opted to proceed with the interview and turn it into a tribute. A celebration of a life lived.

“Seamus had natural ability,” he stressed. “He was in St Jarlath’s and a sprinter there too. As a young lad, he had everything. That time when we were kids, we would arrange matches. You had two sides, below the town and up the town. Seamus was up the town.”

Keenan is of his place. The famous North Galway stronghold through and through. From top to bottom, he knows every nook of Dunmore. Not even emigration could keep them apart. In early 1961, he left a building site in Sheffield as a 19-year-old and announced to his digs companions he was heading home to play for Galway.

He talks with relentless rhythm and spans decades in mere sentences. A mischievous smile always paves the way for an upcoming one-liner.

This is where it started. Keenan went on to win three All-Ireland SFC medals and six Galway club SFC medals. Here is where it will end. Seamus Leydon walked all of those steps alongside him.

“I remember him coming up and asking me to come down and play there on Church Street, we called it High Street. ‘John, will you play with us?’ ‘I will.’ Down we went and won the match.

"I always remember getting medals from a man who came home from America. Then Dunmore came along and we played together since. Then he went to Cork and played with Nemo Rangers.”

The pillars are clear. Keenan constructs two attributes for praise that stand above all else. Skill and conduct. At one point he extends his admiration beyond Leydon to his marker in the 1966 decider, Pat ‘Red’ Collier.

“I would say one thing for Collier, he played him fair.” That is how it works in these parts. When Leydon was dealt a blow to the jaw during a junior game in 1961, it left its mark on more than one Dunmore man.

Despite consecutive titles, heading into that Meath final Galway were not fancied having failed to impress in the Connacht final and All-Ireland semi-final. Leydon later revealed that the county final between Fr. Griffins and Dunmore Machales was played weeks before the All-Ireland final.

Some shrewd onlookers saw county players on both sides excelling and made their money backing the outsiders.

Keenan was excited by that Meath side. Their surging start stemmed from a fear of what would happen if the Leinster champions went on a run.

“They always had a good hard team. Dinnie Donnelly was marking me. I was corner forward but came out around midfield getting on breaks, poor Dinnie was full-time kicking the ball out. I just went out myself. They wouldn’t tell us what to do, they knew what we were capable of.

“Every footballer in our day had ability and natural talent. Every kid now has natural talent. I think, and I’m right, coaches are taking talent out of kids.”

There are several gems he can pick from when reflecting on that golden era. One shines brightest.

For five consecutive years during the mid-sixties, the national league was structured in such a fashion that the winners of the ‘home final’ travelled to New York to play the locals in the ultimate final. It was on one such trip that Keenan met his now wife, Gay Walsh. She is the daughter of Jack, Kerry six-time All-Ireland winner.

Kerry were familiar rivals during that spell. Galway kept winning. The 1963 All-Ireland semi-final. The 1964 final. A League and All-Ireland final double in 1965. In between was another trip Stateside, thanks to Leydon.

“In 1965 we won the league; we beat Kerry in the final. That was a brilliant game. Kerry were out for revenge. We won by the skin of our teeth. A late goal. It was a draw and Sean Meade fouled Bernie O’Callaghan from Ballybunion. Bernie was the free taker and Sean fouled him about 14 yards out. Whoever won was going to America. Bernie said to Sean, ‘Thanks for the tickets.’

“When the ball was kicked out, it went beyond midfield to Mattie McDonagh. Then… I can see him yet, Kerry said he picked it off the ground, but he didn’t and he punched it through to Seamus Lydon. 

"He was running through on the right, then he swerved to the left. I was out there, left corner forward. He was left half. I moved out to take my back away and Seamus put in under the crossbar, goal. The best goal I ever saw.”

Episode 3 of The Madness of Football will be released on Wednesday morning. Listen to entire series here.