Keogh tells TWG:
:: How he and his family have fallen in love with beach life in Perth
:: Who his new best mates are at Glory
:: About his experiences at a variety of clubs in the UK
:: What sort of music he puts on to chill out
:: Which players have impressed him most in the A-League
:: Why he'd like to go to an F1 Grand Prix
Why did you come here and since it's working out pretty well for you how long are you likely to stay?
Well, I'm here because I wanted a new challenge and I wanted to be closer to family members who were already living in Perth and it just so happened that I got the opportunity to come to Glory. I'm here for the foreseeable future and we'll see what happens. My wife, Natalie, is from England and when it gets to that stage in my career where we have to decide, we'll decide where we can stay.
Are you loving it here?
Yeah, I love Australia. It's great for the family - my wife and our daughter, Mia - and just a great place to live, really. I'm loving the beach and the body-boarding and the usual, daily routines of Australian life, so, yeah, can't complain really.
You've been to a lot of clubs in the UK. It's like you've led several lives as a footballer. Just how interesting has it been for you?
Oh, yeah, football's a great game that takes you to a lot of different places and exposes you to a lot of different people and situations. It's a great learning curve, definitely.
Do you find some people who might look at your record and then realise you're only 28 are surprised that you're still so young, having done so much at so many different clubs?
Oh, I don't look at it like that. I just went about my business as I did and that's just how it happened. I was lucky I got my debut early and stayed fit and played a lot of games.
Out here it's a totally different experience for a UK footballer, and in Perth, as well, having to play a lot of these summer games while it's still mid-to-late afternoon. How difficult is that for you and do you have to wear sun-cream for those home games?
Yeah, of course, I wear it every day anyway. It's difficult when it's 35 degrees-plus, but, you know, it's the same for everyone and you just have to adapt to it as best you can.
What was the most interesting club you played for in the UK?
Um, well, interesting in a good way would be Wolverhampton Wanderers and interesting in a bad way would have been Blackpool FC.
So it didn't work out well there?
I did well at Blackpool. I scored the goal that kept them up that season, so I was happy with my time there in that respect. It was only a short period, but it's an interesting club in the way it's run and Wolves was interesting in a great way. It was very memorable there.
I know you're a big music fan. A lot of people might assume that because you're Irish you're naturally a U2 fan, but are you a U2 fan?
I like them, yeah, I like nearly all Irish music, so I'm very patriotic.
What are your favourite bands? The Lumineers is one, isn't it?
Yeah, The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Christy Moore. A lot of folk music, that's what I'm into. I like all sorts of music, but to sit there and chill and have a beer watching the sun go down I like to listen to some folk music.
You've obviously had some great experiences, like playing for Republic of Ireland in the old Giants Stadium in New Jersey and playing under Giovanni Trapattoni and scoring a great goal against Serbia. These must be fantastic memories, but they're recent memories as well. You've still got a long way to go, haven't you?
Yeah, of course. It's always nice to have those memories, but right now I'm only focused on creating more that I can tell the kids and the grandkids about one day.
Have you picked up some Aussie slang? Do you always understand what your teammates are talking about?
More or less, I get the gist now, but it was a bit difficult to start with.
Are you using any of it yourself now?
No, not yet.
I saw you pulling your Glory teammate Dino Djulbic and Sydney FC's Jacques Faty apart last weekend, when it got a bit heated there. Is it fair to say you're a lover, not a fighter?
I don't know, I can be aggressive when I want to. I was just trying to stop them from getting sent off, which didn't work unfortunately.
If you could go anywhere in the world to see a major sporting or entertainment event, all expenses paid and the best seats in the house, what would it be?
Mmm, probably the World Cup final, that would be the ideal thing to go and watch. But if it wasn't football I'd probably like to go to an F1 car race somewhere.
You're into the F1s are you?
Yeah. I've never been (to a race), but I've always been intrigued and interested in going. It would be great to sit on the finish line in a nice spot and have a day out watching that. Monaco, Melbourne, you know, whatever.
I'm sure Perth Glory owner Tony Sage has got plenty of connections. He should be able to fix you up at the next Melbourne one, shouldn't he?
Hopefully someone can.
Who do you respect most among your A-League opponents now that you've played against them all and some of them more than once?
There's a lot of good players. Let's see, I like Marcelo Carrusca, I like the way he plays. I like his ability on the ball. I knew about Besart Berisha before coming here and I like the way he plays as well. His football speaks for itself. I also like Nigel Boogaard at Adelaide. I'm very impressed by him, his distribution of the ball out of the defence has been really good.
Who are your good mates at Glory?
They're all friends. Ruben Zadkovich is probably close. He pops around for dinner a lot. Rich Garcia is my roommate for away games and we get on well. Our families get on well together, so I'd say those two.
What do you do in your downtime? I saw a mention of fishing with Ruben Zadkovich in a story about you, but what else do you like to do?
I'm going to try to do some more fishing, a bit of golf, but generally just down the beach and trying some water sports. We went paddle-boarding the other day, which is pretty tough but enjoyable. We live by the beach so my spare time is sort of beach life.
