Jake Keegan - "Galway in a good position"

Chasing promotion from the First Division and heading into the final series of matches, Galway are on course for an exciting play-off showdown, and their star American sensation, Jake Keegan, is ready for the challenge ahead.

With big matches to come against Shelbourne and Wexford Youths as the season hurtles towards a climactic finish, Tommy Dunne's charges are almost within touching distance of where they desperately want to be.

And when Extratime.ie caught up with Galway's Player of the Month for July, Keegan, ahead of this Friday's match against Waterford United, the former FC Darmstadt player was in a positive mood about his side's chances of pushing their challengers all the way.

“Before we play Shelbourne and Wexford - the last two - we have Waterford, Finn Harps, Rovers and then Cobh. So, if we can pick up the maximum in that, maybe we can be in a position where, if Wexford drops a game, there wouldn't be a must-win in the last game of the season. It would be a definite positive.

“So, we're in a good position now and we're just trying to win as many games as possible in the run-in, and hopefully that'll lead to a play-off spot.”

And on his award, which is to be presented to him on Friday, he was thoroughly grateful, not to mention modest.

“There's tonnes of talent here in Galway. It's nice to be picked by the fans or voted for by the fans for an award like that.”

Currently sitting in third spot, a point ahead of Wexford Youths, the men from the west have everything to play for, and huge credit must go to Keegan for the way he's been playing – particularly in front of goal where he's netted an impressive eight league goals since joining as well as adding a great deal of flair and passion with his approach play.

Ever the team player, though, the 23-year-old New Yorker was keen to spread the praise around the squad and he was quick to highlight the great work and resilience of his team-mates since the campaign began.

“I mean, we have a lot of good strikers at the club, so there's plenty of guys who can score goals for us. Obviously, I've had a decent season so far, but that's probably the great thing about our team, I mean against Longford Gary Shanahan came up with the goal in the 90^th minute to give us the three points. So, really anybody can come up with a big goal at a big time, and hopefully that'll be help for us going in to the crunch.”

Indeed, Galway have shown great mental strength in recent weeks, even managing to push Premier Division leaders Dundalk in the FAI Cup, holding their own for good spells as well as grabbing a late goal through 17-year-old, Padraic Cunningham

And yet if any of their players is an embodiment of that constant drive for improvement, it's Keegan, who's really taken to life at Eamonn Deacy Park with aplomb since coming on board as a promising talent – a talent he's more than fulfilled.

“Personally, I would always want to do better, so I'm never really satisfied with how things are going. But personally I started off the season, I probably didn't score very much in the first 10 or 11 games, so it has been nice to get on the score-sheet more often. But, at the same time, I would like to be scoring more.”

His most recent contribution to Galway's goal tally came against Wexford Youths in mid-August where he smashed home a goal in the 71^st minute. And despite losing the game, it epitomised his desire to keep looking for a way back into any tie.

Indeed, the same can be said of his late, goal-poachers finish against Cobh Ramblers where, with the game already well and truly wrapped up, he popped up to put a deserved gloss on the final score to make it 4-1 in the 83^rd minute.

His search for the betterment of himself is distinctly evident, and it's a positive trait he freely admits to, even when considering the greatest unknown of them all – his future.

“Honestly, I don't know. I'm just – like you said – I'm just trying to improve day-by-day and see where it goes. I mean, obviously, the immediate goal would be to play in the Premier Division with Galway next year. So, I mean if we can take care of business in the run-in, then hopefully that'll be a reality come next March.”