Doesn't mean it's accurate and it could be because of his last name but Football Manager 2014 lists him as having USA and Northern Ireland citizenship. If his dad's name is Kevin Keegan then there has to be an Irish link somewhere. Jake is on twitter so maybe someone can ask him? https://twitter.com/jake__keegan What the heck, I'll ask him and let you guys know if he replies. I remember RyGuy had a lot of interest from England, I think Tranmere Rovers, but could not get a work permit. Is it 5 years to get citizenship in Ireland? I always thought RyGuy had been there long enough but was never able to get citizenship. Edit: Nevermind, RyGuy was in Ireland for 3 years.
Here's the latest on Jake. Two matches to report. The second is the most important. He played last week in an away win against bottom side Cobh Ramblers, who have actually improved somewhat of late. Cobh pitch is in a terrible state of repair and is small, so teams often find it very hard to break them down. Galway had a man off for two inexplicable bookings soon after one another, but managed to get the win, with a penalty deep in injury time. The 18 year old kid, Ryan Manning, who won the penalty, stepped up himself and scored. He plays for the Ireland u19s and is very experienced for his age. More than 50 games at senior level and many many games at international and representative level for schools and local leagues. Jake scored the equaliser tonight to secure 3rd place (at least) and a playoff place for Galway FC. Wexford Youths, who Galway play in the final game next week, are now 3 points behind but would need to win by seven goals to leapfrog Galway into the final playoff spot, which is unlikely. Galway can still snatch second, but they would be relying on bottom side Cobh beating Shelbourne in Cobh and Galway winning at home against Wexford. Not beyond the realms of possibility, but unlikely. Cobh have only won twice all season, both at home, but they were both against poor sides who played poorly. The playoff structure is that Galway and Shelbourne play each other over two legs, for the right to play against the 2nd bottom team in the Premier Division, for a place in the Premier Division the following season. The winner of the First Division (Longford) go up automatically and the bottom team in the Premier go down automatically. Clubs often go bust in Ireland, so clubs can often be saved by that... Video of the match and Jake's goal up tomorrow probably.
Jake scored a brace in the last game of the league season on Sunday afternoon. 3rd place and the second of two playoff places secured. 2nd place secures home advantage in the second leg and Galway were on course for it when their rivals Shelbourne went 2 down away at bottom side Cobh, but they recovered and Galway's result was immaterial. The playoff against Shels is only the first obstacle. The winner needs to beat the team that comes second last in the Premier Division to gain promotion. That's possibly four more games to negotiate.
With these numbers he should be playing in D1 next season, even if Galway don't get promoted. Mid-table D1 teams will come calling, if they haven't already.
It's not quite as simple as that. There is a large gulf in class between the Premier and First Divisions. Longford, who won the First Division, did so with a large number experienced top-tier players. They will be better equipped to survive in the top tier than most other promoted teams in recent memory. Usually only one team goes down and one comes up and sometimes nobody goes anywhere due to clubs collapsing. The First Division is quite poor really. All Galway FC players will be out of contract after the playoffs. As most are locals, many won't be going anywhere any way, but players like Keegan and the better members of the first XI are liable to move on, maybe a couple of them to Premier Division clubs.
Jake played well in a 2-0 home win over Shelbourne, in the first match of the two-legged playoff. The return fixture is in 1 week. Played 82 minutes, replaced by Vinny Faherty. No goal, but played well.
Keegan scored the winner tonight for Galway away at Shelbourne in the second leg of the playoff. It put Galway 4-1 up on aggregate. That's how it finished. Galway now face Premier Division UCD in the playoff final, for a placein next year's League of Ireland Premier Division. The first leg is on Monday night and the second is a week from tonight. Jake has 15 goals for the season in the league and playoffs.
I went to UCD. Bummer Not a whole lot of recovery time, but UCD were playing on Friday as well and needed a result to avoid the playoff, so neither team gets an advantage. In how many appearances?
15 goals in 21 starts and 9 sub appearances. He was played out of position and was often a sub early on in the season. The first of those 15 goals was in mid-May. That's a run of 15 goals in 21 matches. He would have started most but not all of those.
Jake played the full match tonight up top against Premier Division UCD. Poor first half from Galway. Went into the break 1-0 down. UCD offered little going forward but scored their chance. It was all Galway in the second half. Two goals, on 89 and 90+1 reversed the deficit. Interestingly, neither team had their manager in the dugout, as they were both serving suspensions. The second leg is on Friday night in Galway. Away goals don't apply.
I take it this is a massive result. A 2-1 first leg away win gives them a great chance of going up. How excited are the fans in Galway about this? Is it semi-big news?
Fairly excited I suppose. Promotion through the playoffs is like winning a trophy in a way. I think though, as the manager said, it is only half-time. UCD have tended to do well in Galway, so nothing is certain. There is only one goal between the sides and there are 90 minutes left.
Bummer forme, but Jake and "the tribesmen" have one foot in the Prem. Still, the old cliche is 2-1 being the most dangerous lead possible. If away goals don't apply, what's the tie-breaker, extra-time & penalties?
I think I heard that it was straight to penalties, but I'm not sure where I heard that. A bit strange. Would favour ET myself.