Keegan "should have been taken off immediately", will miss Dubs date

February 02, 2016

Mayo's Lee Keegan on the bench following a head injury

One of the GAA's leading concussion experts says Lee Keegan should not have stayed on the field after clashing heads with Eoin Cadogan.

The Mayo captain remained on the pitch at Pairc Ui Rinn on Sunday for ten minutes after the collision and has been ruled out of this weekend's Round Two clash with Dublin.

Dr Kevin Moran, the Donegal team doctor and a consultant surgeon who sits on the GAA's Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee, points out that the player should have been called ashore but lays no blame whatosever at the door of Mayo team doctor Seán Moffatt.

"Obviously, in retrospect, the player should have been taken off immediately," Moran comments in The Irish Times. "No question about that. Once the Cork player was taken off immediately and the Mayo player wasn't, I suppose it highlighted it even more. I only saw it on television but it seemed to me clearly that Lee Keegan did not want to leave the field. You could see him protesting both with Seán Moffatt and with Maurice Deegan.

"Again, it's easy to be wise in retrospect but in that situation, Seán should have gone to the manager and said, 'I'm not happy, the player needs to come off the field.' And then it becomes the manager's responsibility. Those are the guidelines from Croke Park.

"There is no question in my mind here of Seán Moffatt having been negligent. Absolutely none. His major concern has always been player welfare. I have huge sympathy for him and there but for the grace of God go all of us who are team doctors. He came out and put his hands up and said he should have taken him off. I think that was very honest and honourable of him to do that."


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