The following season, 1985–86, O'Keefe scored seventeen goals in nineteen league starts (including a hat-trick in a 4–0 home win over Doncaster Rovers on 1 October 1985). With seventeen goals, he finished the season as the club's top scorer. After only two games in 1986–87, O'Keefe announced his retirement from professional football due to injury. His final game for Blackpool came on 6 September 1986, in a 2–1 home defeat by Carlisle United. He was awarded a testimonial match as the summer wound down, with First Division champions Everton visiting Bloomfield Road. He repaid the favour in August 1987, when O'Keefe organized a fun run in order to raise £15,000 for Blackpool F.C. – the club were in great financial trouble at the time.