Jack Keaney delighted to be back in the big time

Jack Keaney is back in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland - and wants to stay there.

The Donegal Town man captained UCD to a play-off win over Waterford United on Friday night.

Keaney previously played for Sligo Rovers for two seasons in the top flight before signing with UCD in 2019. Keaney is a maths and biology student at UCD and has spearheaded their Premier return.

“It was just relief,” Keaney told Donegal Live. "Everyone was thrilled after all the hard work that we have done in the past two years,.

“A good few of us have tasted Premier Division football before. You’re in with the best players, the best teams, games are on tv. We just wanted to have no regrets after the game and we’re very much looking forward to the Premier.

“The likes of myself, Sam Todd and Paul Doyle have played a lot of Premier Division football. Once you get that taste, you just want more of it. We were watching for the last two years, just hoping it could be us.”

Keaney joined UCD in the summer of 2019 with the Students relegated that year.

Keaney broke through as a real prospect at Sligo during Gerard Lytttle’s spell as manager at The Showgrounds before he took up a scholarship at Belfield.

He said: “UCD is a big pull. Look around every team in the top flight, they all have one or two who have been at UCD. The likes of Ronan Finn, Gary O’Neill, Neil Farrugia from Rovers were all at UCD, Liam Scales was there too.

“The pathway is there at UCD. We’re also as close to full-time as you’ll get. There is a lot of commitment and organisation needed.

“We train most days, maybe getting Tuesday and Sunday off. We’re in nearly every day. It means a lot more to us because we’re all working together and the group is so close.

“The college know the commitments involved, especially for those of us on scholarships. You still have to have balance, you need to work around the lectures. Me, next semester, I’ll be out on placement and that’ll bring its own difficulties, but you just have to adapt and work around it.”

Keaney is in the third year of a four-year course and has his mind on making the most of his career in the League of Ireland.

He said: “I got a taste for full-time football with Sligo and that’s definitely something i’d be looking to after I’m finished here.

“I have so many fond memories of Sligo Rovers. The two years at Sligo really made me the player I am now. Leaving Sligo wasn’t a decision that I took lightly at all. There were so many pros and cons, but I felt that I needed to grow as a person. to fend for myself with a bit of independence. It was a great decision. I’ve been captain of UCD for the last two seasons, something I didn’t think would come so soon.”

UCD had to do it the hard way.

Having navigated the First Division play-offs against Treaty and Bray, they saw off troubled Waterford - who sacked manager Marc Bircham in the lead-up to the game - on Friday when Dara Keane and Colm Whelan netted in a 2-1 win.

Keaney said: “We weren’t in the game for the first ten minutes and they scored, but when we got our foot on the ball and settled, we dominated the game.

“We played Waterford a few weeks ago in the Cup and we were very unlucky on the day. We knew, even before anything happened with them last week, that we could put it up to the. The main thing for us was basically not getting sidetracked.

“It sort of took a year in the First Division to get our bearings. We were unlucky last year against Longford and they got promoted. That year stood to us.

“The First Division is so hard to get out of. This year you had full-time teams with Cork and Galway and then Shelbourne were basically full-time. The calibre of player in the First Division is a lot better now. You have to perform your best every single week.”

His grandfather was Galway football legend Tom ‘Pook’ Dillon, an All-Ireland winner in 1956.

Keaney came through the ranks of Donegal Town FC before signing with Sligo. He was on Donegal GAA teams at under-16 and minor levels.

He said: “Once football became serious, I had to make a decision. I made a good decision.”