It was O’Keeffe’s second consecutive All-Ireland winners’ medal. In 1904 O’Keeffe and Cork were attempting to capture a third All-Ireland title in-a-row. The campaign began well with Cork defeating Tipperary to secure a fourth consecutive Munster title, however, once again O’Keeffe missed the provincial decider. He was back for the subsequent trouncing of Antrim which set up an All-Ireland final showdown with Kilkenny. It was the beginning of a hugely successful era for ‘the Cats’ as Cork were heading into decline. Kilkenny won the game thanks to Dick Doyle’s first-half goal, while Pat ‘Fox’ Maher made great save at the end to help his team to a 1-9 to 1-8 defeat of O’Keeffe’s side. For the second time in their history Cork secured a fifth consecutive Munster title following a 7-12 to 1-4 trouncing of Limerick. O’Keeffe, however, did not take part in the game. For the second year in-a-row Cork later faced off against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. The game was a high-scoring affair with Cork winning by 5-10 to 3-13. The game, however, had to be replayed as Cork goalkeeper Daniel McCarthy was a British army reservist and Kilkenny’s Matt Gargan had played with Waterford in the Munster championship. The game was another high-scoring one, with Jimmy Kelly scoring 5-2. A puck-out by Cork’s Jamesy Kelleher is said to have hopped over the Kilkenny crossbar. Kilkenny won the game by 7-7 to 2-9, with all seven of their goals coming in a thirty-minute spell. It was the third time in five years that O’Keeffe had ended up on the losing side in an All-Ireland final. Two years later in 1907 O’Keeffe finally picked up a third Munster winners’ medal following a 1-6 to 1-4 defeat of Tipperary. Cork later reached the All-Ireland final with Kilkenny providing the opposition. A high-scoring, but close, game developed between these two great rivals once again. As the game entered the final stage there was little to separate the two sides.