Jake Keegan: I left Galway to get one step closer to MLS dream

JAKE KEEGAN is hoping to realise his dream of playing Major League Soccer after making the difficult decision to leave Galway United.

The New York native has accepted an offer from FC Edmonton in the NASL — North America’s second tier league — where he hopes to catch the eye of scouts from the MLS, which he turned his back on as a college graduate.

The 24-year-old was a key part of Galway’s promotion push in 2014 and hit 12 goals for Tommy Dunne’s side in the Premier Division last season.

Excited about what lies ahead, he said: “MLS is the main goal for me.

“I definitely could have seen myself spending a couple of more years in Europe, in Ireland or wherever, but I got the offer and decided it was the right place to go.

“If you were to play in Ireland or you were to play in the NASL, the opportunity is greater in the NASL just because that’s where the MLS clubs are looking.

“It’s the main feeder league, whereas in Ireland the feeder league would be to go to England or Scotland.

“If you’re American, it’s also very difficult to get work permits unless you’re with the national team — which I’m currently not — so I figured NASL was the best place for me to go next.”

The striker’s goalscoring and technical ability attracted interest from higher up the League of Ireland during the off-season but he admits that had he stayed in this country, he would not have joined a rival club.

He insisted: “If I would have come back to Ireland, 100 per cent it would have been in Galway.

“Maybe it doesn’t seem like that by leaving but I’m a very loyal person so once someone treats me well and does right by me, I would repay that.

“Maybe that’s part of the reason why I left. I didn’t want to go to a different Irish club and I did want a different experience.”

America’s second tier is not without its familiar faces.

Former Sligo Rovers midfielder Richie Ryan captained the other Canadian team, Ottawa Fury, in the NASL final against the New York Cosmos last month.

Ex-Cobh Ramblers defender Colin Falvey was his team-mate that day and on the Cosmos side were former Spain internationals Raul and Marcos Senna, though both have since retired.

Ryan recently made the move to Florida’s Jacksonville Armada, where he joins another former Sligo player in Haitian international Pascal Millien.

Keegan added: “You’re not going to have Marcos Senna and Raul playing in some pub league — the standard is very high.

“The facilities are very nice — the training facility, the main stadium. They have this indoor bubble where they can train.

“That’s the biggest difference in the size of the club, I would say, just the facilities that they have on hand, compared to where it is in Ireland now.

“That doesn’t mean Dundalk or Shamrock Rovers aren’t better clubs and they couldn’t compete — it’s just the facilities that they have are better than, say, Oriel Park.”