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Stephen Rochford addresses why Lee Keegan was initially left on after worrying collision

Today's Allianz League opener between Mayo and Cork in Pairc Ui Rinn featured a worrying collisio...



Stephen Rochford addresses why...
Football

Stephen Rochford addresses why Lee Keegan was initially left on after worrying collision

Today's Allianz League opener between Mayo and Cork in Pairc Ui Rinn featured a worrying collision between Lee Keegan and Eoin Cadogan.

The latter was immediately substituted during Cork's 1-18 to 0-12 victory, but Mayo's Keegan was left on initially.

After the match, Off The Ball's Dave McIntyre asked Mayo manager Stephen Rochford about the circumstances which led to Keegan staying on.

"I haven't spoken yet with [the doctor] but he was referring that he was fine. But then quite clearly our own video analysis team and our own doc could notice it straight away. As quickly as we could get him out of the field then, we could. He was communicating at the end of the game and hopefully if there is a concussion aspect, then it's something minor," he told Dave.  

Rochford also added that: "The medical team were communicating with him. He was captaining the team. Sometimes you say do you mind the player from himself. He was responsive in that he was communicating with the doctor. Once we were able to clearly notice that he wasn't himself, he was pulled."

Mayo’s Brendan Harrison and Donal Vaughan with Paul Kerrigan of Cork ©INPHO/James Crombie

Meanwhile, Mayo star Aidan O'Shea feels Cork deserved their  victory but also feels the mix-and-match nature of today's team was a major factor.

He was in action this afternoon and was taking the defeat in his stride when Dave caught up with him.

Dave asked him whether he felt Cork were a little further up the road preparation wise in 2016 so far, O'Shea admitted that might be the case.

He said: "From guessing, I'd say so. Obviously a lot of boys are not here today and a lot of young bucks were brought into the squad as well so it was a bit of mix and match and we probably haven't had much continuity since we got back together. It's no excuse. The performance wasn't where we'd like it to be. We had a good enough team out there to be competitive. After 15 minutes, we let the game slide away from us."


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