'He lived and breathed the Dublin mantra'

Lee Keegan has paid tribute to departing Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and suggested that he didn’t always get the credit he deserved.

An emotional Farrell stepped down after Dublin’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Dublin, having won the Sam Maguire twice as a manager in 2020 and ’23, and also as a player in 1995.

"People are a bit shortsighted sometimes... I still think Dessie did a great job. Leinster is probably as open as it's ever going to be. For the next few years, you'll probably have multiple different winners,” the Mayo great told the RTÉ GAA podcast.

"But for Dublin, yeah it's definitely a transitional period for them. I still think Dessie worked a lot of good stuff there with that group.

"I also have to pay homage to him in a good and bad way because he definitely clipped our wings. He brought a lot of those 13-year-olds, now generational players, to be the greatest players that ever graced the pitch. He nurtured them into the players they are today, which cost (Mayo) dearly but you could see the job he's done with them.

"To give four decades to Dublin, it's just incredible service. He just lived and breathed the Dublin mantra. I think he's done a brilliant job with them to be honest."