Lee Keegan speaks on 'trust and loyalty issues' in Mayo GAA

Former Mayo football star Lee Keegan has spoken on the complexities surrounding Mayo GAA.

The happenings within the inner sanctum of the county’s footballing governance have been well-chronicled over the last few months.

READ MORE: Lee Keegan reveals his preference for Mayo GAA manager job

Just in May, the revelations of a slew of emails sent to members of the Executive prompted a visit from Jarlath Burns, and plenty of national conversation.

Less than a month later, Mayo GAA was trending on social media once again for the controversy surrounding the statement 'relieving' Kevin McStay from his role as senior manager.

Speaking on the ‘Beyond the 45’ podcast on TalkSport, Mayo legend Keegan spoke about the unique and challenging landscape within the county.

“I think people need to understand there's such complexities at Mayo,” he surmised. “You probably have an understanding media-wise, but you need to be in there sometimes to really get a deep understanding. There's trust and there's loyalty issues. There's too much talking. The expectation for me is too much.

“We air all our dirty laundry to everybody. From the simplest stuff to the outrageous stuff, everything just gets out. We probably get talked about more than most. We were the conversation for the quarter finals this year when we should have had nothing.”

READ MORE: ‘I didn’t say anything’ - Cillian O’Connor on Mayo decision

Keegan also spoke on the barometer set by Mayo sides in the decade prior.

“I think sometimes the expectation is way too high. I think you obviously want to win the big ones and stuff, but we haven't won a Connacht medal now in a few years. We won a league, we got to a league final.

“It doesn't cut it. We need to be winning provincials; Galway have won four in a row. So that needs to be a realistic expectation.”

For the talismanic defender, the notion of giving some of the young talent coming onto the scene more of a crack of the whip is one which he fancies.

“I think we're still very happy to pick the same players, maybe because they have a bit of experience.

“Whereas sometimes I’d like to see some of the youthful guys come in. Let them at it. How do you think we learnt?”

Keegan also lifted the lid on what the reaction was like during the many huge storylines that broke during the 12 years strutting his stuff at the top level.

“Players will play, players will do anything for the management or whoever's there. That's never been an issue, and I can say that straight up.

“Has there been distractions over the years? Yeah, there's distractions, but there's distractions in every camp from year to year between different bits and pieces.

“We're always national news for whatever reason, and that hasn't changed from the time I was there.

“We used to get great kicks out of it as players, actually. We used to make jokes about it. If you didn't laugh, you’d be crying about it.”