Category: News

This article was written by Kevin O’Brien and published by The 42 on friday 1st April.

PAUL MANNION IS content with life outside the inter-county bubble as he rehabs the knee injury that forced him to miss Kilmacud Crokes’ run to the All-Ireland club final.

Mannion suffered a torn lateral ligament in his left knee during the Leinster semi-final against Portarlington. It forced him to miss the provincial decider win against Naas and subsequent clashes against Padraig Pearses and Kilcoo in the All-Ireland series.

“I thought I might have gotten away with it without it being too serious but in the days that followed it was very painful and I wasn’t recovering at all and once I got a scan it confirmed the ligament had fully detached from the bone. And the only fix was surgery.

“I looked at the options, but once I had the surgery there was definitely no chance [of playing]. Without the surgery I’d left it about three weeks and it wasn’t recovering at all I couldn’t walk so there was no chance,” he adds.

“All kind of things go through your head, what if this happened or what if that happened but I have learned to park those thoughts because you drive yourself mad thinking about those what ifs, and not just what if I was around or what if something else happened.

“I spent the first week two weeks going through all that in my head and eventually you just need to move on and accept these kind of things happen in sport and that I have also been on the other side of those kind of results many times myself. So just accept it move on and hope for better days really.”

The 28-year-old says he’s nearing full fitness and if the All-Ireland had taken place in it’s traditional slot on St Patrick’s Day, he’d probably have made it back in time.

“The physio that’s working with me had said that if the final was on Paddy’s Day as it used to be…I was asking him would I be going for that and he said definitely.

“It mightn’t have been 100% but certainly by that time I felt like I could have done something on the pitch. It was unfortunate timing but now I’ve got plenty of time to recover and make sure I’m in full health for the championship this year.

“It’s flying, much better now, back running, squatting and doing everything in the gym. It’s been like that for the last few weeks and I’m close to 100pc I’ve been really, really lucky with the recovery and the surgeon Ray Moran is probably the best around, he did it out in Santry so I was fortunate to have him do that.

“There’s not a bit rush on it now because we’ve got league games coming up of course but I just want to make sure that the knee is more than 100% right before I go back training on it at all. I’ve been out running, kicking and it feels great from that point of view. The step into full competitive match play is a big one as well so I’ll take my time with that.”

He believes Kilmacud will react the right way to the heartbreaking extra-time defeat to Kilcoo.

“I don’t think it will have any kind of negative impact. In fact, I think it’s only made lads more hungry for an All-Ireland win. I know it’s definitely made me more hungry as well.

“Obviously the Dublin championship is the first big step on that road and that’s got all of our attention now. We had a meeting to regroup after that loss and discuss plans for the year and things we can improve on.

“Everyone was vocal about taking it to the next level and really, really pushing to get back to that stage again. I think it’s reinvigorated a lot of us.

“Management are all still fully bought in and there will be new younger lads that are coming into the team this year that will be pushing for places and adding to the team as well. I think everyone is really optimistic and excited for the year ahead.”

Mannion opted out of the Dublin panel at the end of the 2020 season and declined to answer any questions relating to Dessie Farrell’s squad.

The three-time All-Star picked up six All-Ireland medals during his inter-county career before stepping away due to the commitment levels involved.

Earlier this year Mannion confirmed he has no plan to return to the Sky Blues fold and he says he’s enjoying the freedom that came with his decision.

“It’s well-documented the commitment and time that goes into playing intercounty football and sometimes when you are in that it can be a bubble and I have enjoyed being outside that a bit and being able to spend more time and focus with the club and other things so it’s been a nice time.”

Mannion’s friend and former team-mate Jack McCaffrey is another high-profile absentee from the Dublin set-up.

“I think he’s off to Africa this summer for another few months there,” says Mannion. “He’s a bit of a free spirit, he just goes where the wind takes him.

“He seems to be doing well. I met him in Manchester a couple of weeks ago for the United-City game, it didn’t go too well. He’s in great form, loving life. ”

This article was published in the Independent.IE on Monday, 21st March and written by Niall Scully.

Síle Nic Coitir (extreme left) at Ballyboden St Enda’s UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic Sponsorship launch along with (l-r) Fiachra O’Connor, Fiona Roche (both from UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic), Ciarán Maguire (Chairman) , Paschal Taggart (Chairman of the Board), Dr Ray Moran, Brian Keane (CEO SSC) and Shane Durkin.

“It’s wonderful to see female athletes at the centre of things” says Ballyboden and county legend

A Big night at Boden. Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’ comes on the music system.

If the great man had been in Páirc Uí Mhurchú himself, he would have sung: ‘It’s 9 o’clock on a Tuesday. The regular crowd shuffles in.’

Soon, it’s standing room only. For the big sponsorship announcement. From the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic, Santry, the club’s new sponsors.

Earlier in the day, Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle won the hearts at Cheltenham. This club has known Gold Cup days too.

In the corner of the Boden clubhouse, the Manchester United-Atletico Madrid match is on the tele. Stephanie Roche is on the RTÉ panel.

Síle Nic Coitir finds a quieter spot and reflects on her own role models .

She was a big fan of Paul Curran. And the Antrim hurling goalkeeper, Niall Patterson. Then there was Dublin’s hurling All-Star, Brian McMahon.

“All men,” she smiles now. “Thankfully, that has changed.

“There’s so many outstanding women in sport that young people can now look up to. That has been a brilliant development,” she notes.

“The 20×20 campaign was a big success. As it says, if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.

“It’s wonderful to see female athletes at the centre of things. At launches and on TV, and in the media in general. You have the likes of Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington. It’s incredible what they have done.

“When I was growing up, it was different. Thankfully, the achievements of women in sport are being recognised, and that young people can see that, and can relate to it. Women in sport work just as hard as the fellas. So it’s only fair that they get the profile.”

She’s a pundit herself now. “I really enjoy that. You see the game from a totally different perspective. You are up on a height and you are focusing on things like tactics and all the rest of it.”

In the clubhouse, there are pictures the tell the Boden story. This is where Síle calls home.

She’s been coming here for over a quarter of a century. And she has a bagful of medals that stretch the length of the Firhouse Road.

She was born into the games. Her Dad, Don, was the Chairman of the Dublin County Board.

Síle recalls happy days at school in Scoil Naithí and Coláiste Íosagáin. And with Ballinteer St John’s and St Olaf’s. And then arriving down to Boden. Playing for the U14’s. “I felt so welcome from the first day.”

She became an acclaimed dual player, with club and county. With Boden, she won ten Dublin Senior Camogie Championships, plus one Leinster. “That Leinster win was one of my proudest days.”

In Ladies’ Football, she collected four Dublin Senior Championship crowns, three Leinster and one All-Ireland. Bill Daly lighting a spark that became a bonfire.

Then for the Dubs, there was a Leinster Senior Championship Ladies’ Football victory, and an All-Ireland Camogie Junior Championship success.

She has learned so much along the way. And one of the most important lessons of all – keep playing as long as you can.

She’s a coach herself now. Mentoring the Maynooth camogie team. “I’m really enjoying it. Coaching is such a completely different ball game. Just because you played, doesn’t mean you can coach.

“You have to listen and learn from other people. There’s so much emphasis on tactics and formations, etc. It’s fascinating. I feel fortunate that I have got the chance.”

She delights in how ladies football is prospering. Mick Bohan’s Dubs. “It’s so quick now. The play is constantly up and down. It’s a very attractive game to watch.”

She commends camogie’s journey. “The physicality has greatly added to the game. The rule changes have helped so much.”

She’d be thrilled to see the Dublin camogie team return to the big-time. “I hope things can keep progressing. It’s all about getting the grassroots and structures right. And building from there.”

Having the GAA family under one roof would be an initiative she’d welcome. A family that have been such an important part of her life.

There’s a growing hum coming from the Boden Bar now. Proceedings are about to begin. She tips her hat to the generosity of the new sponsors.

She has known the long, injury-filled days herself. A catalogue of cruciate and cartilage operations.

She overcame them all. A sharp, darting forward with big ball and small. And when the knees began to act up, she put on the goalkeeper’s cap.

It’s her composure, under pressure, that most stands out. The ability to think on those quick feet.

An attribute that will serve her well in the coaching department. And in the commentary box.

This article was published on the 21st February 2022 on Extra. IE Sport. This article was written by Mark Gallagher.

The smile on Chloe Mustaki’s face said it all. On Saturday evening in La Manga, the Dubliner finally made her senior international debut, almost two years after tearing her ACL in an Ireland training camp.

As she spoke to journalists over zoom yesterday, there were times when she got a little emotional as she reflected on the path that led to Saturday night, and her Playerof-the Match performance in the 1-0 defeat to a fine Russian side.

Mustaki spoke of the support from her family, her boyfriend — Dundalk player Greg Sloggett — the staff at Shelbourne and the likes of Enda King at the Santry Sports Clinic. When the anthem started playing ahead of the Pinatar Cup semi-final is a moment Mustaki will never forget.

‘It was a day and night to remember for myself,’ she said.

‘The award could have went to a number of different players, the two other debutantes [Megan Walsh and Abbie Larkin] had a fantastic game as well, so I am probably sharing it with those two. It was a long time coming over the last two years. It was hard but I am very happy.’

The ACL tear hasn’t been the only setback which the former Irish under-age captain has had to overcome. At just 19, as her senior career was starting, she was diagnosed with lymphoma.

‘Something my auntie told me early in my diagnosis when I was going through the lymphoma is that everyone experiences setbacks in life. Unfortunately I had been hit with quite a bad one quite early. I had just turned 19 when I was diagnosed. But you need to keep perspective, everyone has road bumps along the way. I had two bad ones early on, but there are more to come and it is just about realising everyone has them at different stages. As long as you have the right people around you to keep going during the bad days, that’s all that matters,’ she said.

The journey back for Mustaki from the ACL was extra lonely as it was during lockdown.

For the first few months of her recovery, she had no face-to-face contact with physios and no gyms were open. So, she ended up doing too much and that significantly delayed her rehabilitation. She missed certain milestones, and seven months in, she still wasn’t able to run.

‘That did freak me out. That is when I went to Enda King in Santry. My first day with him, I just cried in front of him and he was probably wondering what he got himself into. But he set me right and now here I am.’

Mustaki was one of Ireland’s more impressive players on a windy night in La Manga, where Brighton keeper Walsh was an assured presence behind her.

Vera Pauw selected a fairly inexperienced side against a fine Russians – it was the first time in 46 Ireland matches that Katie McCabe didn’t start although both herself and Denise O’Sullivan came on in the second-half.

And Mustaki wants to become an established part of the squad. She accepts that will probably mean a move abroad at some point if she wants to become a mainstay in the international team.

‘When I came back last season, my body was trying to catch up, but now I was able to last 90 minutes in an international game. I was delighted to do that, and it is down to all the effort I put in over the last year and a half. I am committed to Shels but to keep my place in the Ireland team, I do think I need to move abroad.’

“ACL injury prevention strategies for any coach” by Neil Welch, Head of Rehabilitation at SSC Sports Medicine

This article was published by Sportsmith.

The UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic (SSC) in Dublin performs around 1,000 anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) reconstructions per year. I lead SSC’s Lab services, which performs biomechanical and performance testing for the majority of these athletes throughout their rehabilitation. In my role, I interact with a large number of athletes who have undergone surgery, so I understand the massive physical and emotional challenges that are involved in the athlete’s rehabilitation process.

This perspective has shaped my thoughts around injury prevention concerning change of direction and agility training. Hopefully, this article will provide you some ideas of why and how you can implement strategies to reduce the risks of ACL injury that your athletes face during changes of direction.

Movements and positions that increase ACL risk

Before we try to implement injury prevention strategies, we should try to understand the mechanism of ACL injury and whether it relates to the sport we work in and the athletes we work with.

In invasion sports, ACL injury occurs most commonly during non-contact change of direction tasks in both attacking and defensive scenarios. ACL injuries result from excessive rotational loading through the joint causing strain and shear loading high enough for the ligament to rupture. The impact in the majority of circumstances is a year or more out of action.

Researchers have identified a number of biomechanical or technical factors that increase this rotational loading through the knee. To reduce these loads, we need to know what these factors are.

Wider foot plants, greater angles of hip abduction, greater foot external rotation, greater ipsilateral trunk sway and greater knee extension all relate to increased rotational knee loads. Away from the biomechanical factors, there are also performance factors that contribute to increased knee rotational loading during change of direction. These are greater velocities, greater ground reaction forces and greater angle of cut. Conversations regarding the performance-injury trade-off centre around these considerations.

What technical changes could lower an athlete’s risk of ACL injury?

The video below shows a rugby 7s player injuring her ACL. The player in red attempts to decelerate and cut immediately to her left using her right leg, and then step inside the #6 in white. She ruptures her ACL in this stride. Extended knee, ipsilateral trunk sway, large ground reaction forces, high velocity movement and large angle change. A mix between the technical and performance factors we mentioned above.

If we are to prevent this injury, we need to reduce the loading through the joint.

However, from a performance perspective, reducing velocities and ground reaction forces is not what we’re about. In fact, it’s the opposite. The sharp angle of cut is required to evade her marker and is an important attacking option, so that is also not something we’re going to change. Even if it were, can you imagine telling your athletes you are going to slow them down when they cut? Instead, we have to look at what technical factors we can influence.

Video 1: Deceleration example

In the example above, the technical changes we need the athlete to make are reducing trunk sway and using a strategy with more knee bend while decelerating. If we think of a technique change that would achieve both, lowering the centre of mass would fit the bill. The excess trunk sway that contributes to the rupture in this instance happens because the athlete creates an axis of rotation about a stiff limb out in front of her as she decelerates. Think of how a pole vaulter drives the pole into the box. Except in this instance, the pole (or the knee) gives way.

Expanding our view to the full range of technical factors, lowering the centre of mass will influence many of them. A wider foot plant and greater hip abduction is not necessary to apply force horizontally into the ground to change direction if the centre of mass is lower. This, too, will reduce rotational knee loading. A second ACL injury technique risk factor, trunk sway, often occurs when the athlete enters the cut with a vertical trunk. A vertical trunk creates a greater moment with a longer lever. Therefore, we can shorten the lever arm and reduce the moment with some trunk or hip flexion (leaning forward on the approach), lowering the likelihood of the trunk swaying.

Ultimately, greater hip flexion and knee flexion, or being closer to your athletic stance, will reduce rotational knee loading during the cut.

This does not mean that we need to be coaching our athletes into deep squat positions during and approaching change of direction tasks. A better way to think of it is that the further you deviate upwards from your athletic stance at every stage of the cutting task, the greater the risk of injury.

Our injury prevention strategies should seek to create stable attractors away from this very upright strategy.

Listen to this interview with Dr Ciaran Cosgrave, Consultant Sports Medicine Physician at SSC and National Team Doctor IRFU.

This interview by Andy Thomas is part of his Podcast Series ‘Life Stories’ and is available below.

Dr Cosgrave graduated Medicine from Queen’s University Belfast in 2004 and after working for a year in Sydney, undertook an MSc in Sports & Exercise Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He trained as a consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine in Liverpool. He has a wealth of experience in elite sport having worked for two seasons at Liverpool Football Club from 2011-2013.

He also provided medical cover at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and subsequently accompanied Team GB at their High Altitude Training Camp in Iten, Kenya.

Other experience in elite sport includes basketball, Northern Ireland Football, athletics, karate and judo.

Ciaran joined the IRFU in June 2016 having worked as Leinster Rugby Team Doctor from July 2014.

This article by Bobby Bridge for CoventryLive was published online on Friday, 12th November 2021.

The Wasps and England flanker is documenting his rehabilitation from major knee surgery on his Instagram account. Jack Willis revealed a ‘speed bump’ in his recovery from a major knee injury that fueled doubts if he would return to the pitch. The Wasps flanker suffered catastrophic damage to his left knee playing for England against Italy during the Six Nations clash in February.

It is the second time the 2019/20 Premiership player of the season has suffered a major injury following ACL rupture in his right leg, suffered during the Premiership semi-final against Saracens in 2018. The 24-year-old has been documenting his recovery second time around via his Instagram account, which has nearly 39,000 followers, and a series of videos entitled ‘The Rebuild 2.0’. Episode six was released this week – nine months on from suffering the setback at Twickenham Stadium.

Willis discussed complications he was having that promoted a visit to the Fortius Clinic in London.

“The last couple of weeks haven’t been great,” he conceded. “I’ve had things like this in my past injuries. But this is the first time I’ve had a sort of speed bump, if you like, along the way this time and it’s been pretty tough in all honestly. It’s set me back a few weeks. It’s not only when I’ll get back, it’s if I’ll get back. I’ve never really liked to think like that before.”

A back-up plan of a possible PCL reconstruction by consultant knee surgeon Andy Williams – who was insistent that Willis still had a ‘good knee’ and that route wouldn’t need to be explored. Willis also documented a week spent at the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic in Dublin with Wasps team-mate Joe Launchbury, who suffered an ACL rupture in April. The duo underwent a series of tests and sessions to assess their progress and support their journeys back onto the pitch.

After the visit, Willis’ tone changed to one of confidence about his return, but conceded that anxieties lingered about his return to the pitch.

“It’s a nice point to draw a line in the sand and look back on how far I’ve come,” he said. It’s been eight or so months since I did the injury.

“It’s been unreal having Joe here for the week, and also throughout the whole process, we’ve got a few injured lads we’ve been working closely with, having those boys around you, you get pretty tight when you’re going through the same thing. We stick by each other and get through each day and you know it’ll be pretty special when you’re back out there on the pitch together.

“I’m not a millions miles off potentially being a rugby player again and getting out there on the field. It’s pretty nervous thinking like that, thinking I’m a mile off. Hopefully my confidence improves as well because mentally at the moment I feel pretty nervous. I’ve got a lot of anxiety around being back and playing. Just around being injured again and the risks that come with it but each day hopefully that confidence will grow.”

This article by Michael Glennon, RTE Sport Journalist was published online on Monday, 18th October.

Everything was going so well for Munster in Wales, almost too well.

Bonus point in the bag, RG Snyman came on as a replacement, making his third appearance following a lengthy lay-off due to a knee injury.

His recovery from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, suffered just minutes into his debut in August 2020, had been set back twice, firstly due to a separate knee issue and then when he suffered burns that required a skin graft following a fire pit accident.

On his second appearance of the season, three weeks ago against the Stormers, the 6’9″ lock was mobbed by his team-mates when he scored his first try for the side.

Then, as a young Munster side were outplaying the Scarlets on 10 October, the camera cut to Snyman, limping off the field, just nine minutes after coming on.

“Oh God, don’t tell me that’s his knee… it’s horrible to see him going off,” said Donal Lenihan, the former Munster and Ireland second row who was working for RTÉ Sport.

Lenihan’s tone reflected the sheer devastation felt for the man on a personal level primarily but also the knock-on repercussion for Munster, whose ambitions for the season were closely bound to the Springboks lock’s contribution.

Speaking in the RTÉ Rugby podcast Bernard Jackman, the former Leinster and Ireland hooker and Grenoble and Dragons coach, reckoned that Munster should stick with Snyman, whose contract was due to expire at the end of next summer.

“Every single club who have ambitions to win trophies have someone like RG Snyman,” said Jackman.

Former Dublin footballer and hurler Tomas Brady and Wexford hurler Liam óg McGovern both suffered double trouble and returned to play.

That Snyman has re-ruptured the same knee, however, doesn’t indicate an inherent weakness, which might be a common layman’s misunderstanding.

Enda King, head of performance rehabilitation at the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic spoke to RTE.

“The return to play rates after a revision ACL, a re-rupture, are the same, especially at elite level,”

“In elite European football it’s about 90%, in our data in the clinic, in all field athletes, including club GAA   etc it’s 87%.”

“The surgery is not really an issue on a secondary injury, it’s not considered a dramatic procedure.

“There are a number of factors that influence re-injuries.”

King reckons that, in general, a player who has already suffered the same injury, may have an advantage.

“Often you find rehab is easier because the athlete knows what to expect,” he says.

“You often find that with revisions they go through the journey much more smoothly.

“In terms of the threshold for return-to-play, it would be even more demanding on the physical side of things for jumping, landing, change of direction mechanics are as optimal as possible.

“Obviously you are going to try and make sure the physical element is as outstanding as possible to offset any specific risk inherent to the athlete themselves.”

Concerns about rushing a player back ‘too soon’ don’t ring true either.

“Giving it more time doesn’t mean it will be moving any better in three of six months’ time.

“No matter how well you are doing, the graft has to remodel and that takes at least six months and up to 12 months, that can’t be sped up, that’s going to do its own thing.”

King advises that players who are starting a long road to recovery set goals early on.

“When have I got my strength back, when have I got my speed back? How often can I train?

“That’s all influenced by the team you have around you.

“A club player might say I saw Zlatan came back in six months, but Zlatan trains six days a week, has a specialised team around him.

“The average return to play time in European soccer is about seven and a half months, and 90% have returned by 10 months.

“The main thing is to begin with the end in mind, right, if I am going to return to play, what’s going to be physically important: how strong do I want to be, how powerful do I want to be, what do I want my running mechanics and my change of direction mechanics to be?

“If you can write that down before surgery and use it as a signpost all the way around at least you are giving yourself the best chance of achieving optimal recovery.

“Decide at the beginning what the end looks like. That helps the player, team and management.

“Here I go again, #Round2fight,” said Snyman on social media soon after the news was confirmed.

And quoted on Rapport today, the giant second row said: “It’s been a rollercoaster in terms of emotion and disappointment.

“Every time I have something going for me, there’s a setback.

“This year I’ve had to deal with injuries, disappointment, flames, death and heartbreak.

“Fortunately, I’m a positive person. I won’t let this get me down. I’ll come back stronger and better.”

Whether the South African, who turns 27 in January, plays again for Munster depends on a number of factors, the financial state of affairs in Irish rugby among them.

But his bullish attitude, which has made the World Cup winner, according to all reports, a hugely admired figure down south, is a key factor in shaping recovery.”

“I’d be overwhelmingly positive, chances of return to play are very much the same,” adds King, talking in general terms.

“The rehab is no more difficult than it was beforehand, some people find it easier.

“Even though there may be a phycological issue, once you’ve had surgery, you are on the bus again.”

What is VO2 Max?

VO2 max tells us the amount of oxygen consumption we can utilize per minute, generally speaking, the more oxygen we can utilize the better our cardiovascular fitness.

VO2 max is often synonymous with world-class endurance athletes, Nordic skiers, Tour de France, triathletes and marathon runners but it’s actually incredibly useful for the rest of us non-professional athletes.

VO2 max testing is a vital component of our Fitness Lab testing here at the UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic as it gives a wealth of information about your health, fitness and wellness.

Armed with business healthcare know-how, the CEO is nursing big ambitions

This article by Sean Pollock was published in the Sunday Independent in July 2021. (Photo by David Conachy / Sunday Independent) 

Having fractured his neck in the past, former Leinster player and current CEO of UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic (SSC) Brian Keane knows a thing or two about injuries.

Keane, who landed the top job in Santry-based SSC around this time last year, played rugby competitively in the front row until he was 34 and won several caps for Leinster.

The 58-year-old has also navigated his way through the top echelons of several different public and private health organisations, and believes he is well equipped for life in the front row of one of the world’s top clinics for sports injuries.

“It’s not alien to me,” he says. “I have fractured my neck, and I wear a hearing aid. I have the war wounds – so I know what it’s like, and what the ageing process does. So when you start seeing the guys around whatever sport, it’s a stimulus.”

Keane has more to bring to SSC’s table than just old sporting wounds. He can count on almost two decades of experience across the business side of healthcare, from finance to operations, and is ready to pour it all into taking SSC to the next level.

“The stars aligned,” he says of landing the new role with SSC.

“My job is to drive the ship as strongly as it can be, and make it profitable and well run,” he adds. “There are so many opportunities out there now.”

The clinic is certainly making the most out of the opportunities coming its way. Having secured a significant investment from Carlyle Cardinal in 2019, the 380-person strong business (which reported pre-tax profits of €5.5m in 2019) is planning on opening two new theatres, bringing its total to seven.

Keane says the new theatres are sorely needed, as even during the pandemic SSC has been reporting record months. Currently, the clinic can cater for 14,000 surgical episodes annually with its “€10m-plus” expansion expected to boost that figure by a further 40pc.

“We are definitely going to run out of road at some point in late 2022 or early 2023,” he says. “It is great. It creates a new challenge.

“Even without amateur sport being back out, we have just had our most profitable months ever – the most profitable since we opened in 2007.

“I was scratching my head – how does this demographically work again?” he muses. “It’s just people getting back out and doing things, or having the time to fix something that’s been niggling them for the longest time. It has escalated to a crazy sense.

“It was fantastic for us, but it didn’t make a huge amount of sense to me.”

That expansion during Covid also brought its challenges, says Keane, who had to partner with recruitment companies in India to fill positions for the expanding clinic.

Leading the expansion of one of Ireland’s most successful private health clinics hasn’t always been front and centre of Keane’s thoughts. Growing up around Terenure, Co Dublin, a sweet tooth brought on by his parents’ careers was far more pressing.

Keane’s mother was a secretary at Bewley’s Cafés, and his father worked for cake manufacturer Gateaux – so the Keane family was never short of a sweet treat.

“That’s why I was never a scrum-half,” he says with a laugh. “It was not good for the diet, that’s for sure!”

Coffee and cake aside, Keane maintained a keen interest in business from a young age, heading to UCD to complete a BComm. Following that, he became a trainee accountant at KPMG in 1984.

“There are a lot of smart people in there,” he says. “It helps shape your thinking.”

Keane was never sure what he wanted to do with his career, though he stayed at KPMG for seven years. He then moved to Dimension Marketing as finance director, staying there for nine years.

With his taste for career satisfaction unsatisfied, in 2000 Keane dipped his toes into the world of healthcare. He joined The Haughton Institute, a venture linked with Trinity College Dublin, as finance director.

He ended up being bitten by the healthcare bug, and realised this was the field for him.

Keane progressed through several finance roles at various health organisations – including with the Rotunda, Hermitage, UPMC Beacon, and Beaumont Hospital – before landing a position at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in 2013 as chief operations officer.

After only 10 months in post, he was asked to step up and become chief executive.

Keane admits he found the prospect daunting.

“I was terrified,” he says. “I went out and bought a load of those books on how to be a CEO.

“It was a step into the unknown. But that’s my mantra now in life – never look back, and never miss an opportunity. You will survive.”

In 2017, Keane decided to move into a completely new role, heading up property developer Richard Barrett’s Bartra Capital Property Group Nursing Homes. Even though he loved hospitals, he decided to give nursing homes a go.

Keane enjoyed his time at Bartra – but then Covid hit. He says leading the nursing homes through the pandemic was among the most challenging times of his life.

“The nursing home world was particularly difficult, because there was a lot of mortality and attrition. It was terribly sad,” he says, with emotion. “Families couldn’t say goodbye properly, and that was awful.

“It’s unusual for a bean counter like me, but I just love healthcare. The reason I love it is because it’s different. The nature of the work, what it’s fundamentally about – which is caring for people – but those months were pretty grim.

“A lot of people working in healthcare are probably still suffering some degree of trauma.”

As the Covid crisis continued, Keane’s phone rang. It was a recruitment company on the hunt for a new chief executive for SSC. It was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

“This is what I love,” he says. “I love sport as well, so when this job came up, and I got the phone call, I said ‘Yes please.’”

Keane landed the top job after Carlyle Cardinal (which holds a 38pc stake in SSC) and the board agreed the company needed a full-time chief to focus on the clinic’s expansion plans. Its previous CEO, Josh Keaveny, was CEO part-time while also working as a pain management consultant.

The story of SSC is impressive, with Keane admitting he often looked on with envy at the company’s accounts from other hospitals and clinics.

“I’d have been the one throwing rocks at this place, giving out about it from Vincent’s, Hermitage or Beacon,” he says with a laugh. “You’d be envious.

“We’d all look at each other’s financial accounts and see how they are all performing. Net profit – and more importantly, Ebitda – these guys were always doing well, and I was elsewhere observing all this. They picked a very good niche.”

SSC was founded in 2007 by one of the world’s top orthopaedic surgeons, Ray Moran, and was also backed by his brother Kevin – the Ireland, Man Utd and Dublin star.

The clinic developed a reputation as a centre of excellence in joint replacement (hip, knee, shoulder) and in sports soft tissue surgery. It has also become known for its sports medicine division, with Keane proudly adding that it is the go-to place for many of the world’s top athletes – from America’s NFL, to the British and Irish Lions, and beyond.

“When someone goes up to our sports medicine centre, and it’s a guy who’s in fifth year of school – and sat right beside him is the Irish number 10, and he is sitting there agog, it’s quite impressive,” Keane says. “You could easily be rubbing shoulders with the stars.

“You’d be walking around this place on the Monday morning after an international, and you’d see players and be thinking ‘I never realised he was that big’.

“It actually creates a cachet,” he adds. “So if you are an amateur enthusiast, you think ‘if this place is good enough for those guys, then it’s good enough for me.’ That’s the benefit.”

Keane landed the top role with SSC at a “funny time”. When he joined in June 2020, the hospital was still under the control of the HSE under a deal to help the health service cope with the Covid-19 crisis.

Coming in as the boss during the time, Keane could see SSC was quiet.

“A lot of our competitors were very busy with respiratory patients, they had ICU situations, and the public system exported a lot of its cancer care to the private world,” he says of that period.

“We don’t do that. We would have done a couple of hundred in-patient episodes of care, maybe slightly less on the daycare side. That’s very small for us. We were quiet.”

Having worked in leading roles across public and private healthcare settings, Keane believes more needs to be done to enhance cooperation between the two worlds – particularly if the country wants to cut down its looming waiting-list crisis.

“In Ireland, it would be more beneficial to both parties if they talked,” he says. “Part of the reason – it’s amazing, but I’ve seen all this, having worked on both sides of the fence – is that in the HSE and government there is a huge mistrust of all things private. There’s a lack of understanding.”

Despite Keane’s concern for the public health system, he has big plans for SSC as things start to reopen. With sports now taking place, he is more optimistic that a typical trading year could be on the horizon in 2022.

While Keane may have hung up his rugby boots a long time ago, his SSC career is just warming up.

“The fundamentals of this business have always been strong – and now they are even stronger,” he says. “It has what it didn’t have before Carlyle Cardinal: the means to take it to another level. And now it has done so.

“It’s encouraging in the middle of a pandemic when you are breaking your records month after month consecutively. It’s strange, but it bodes well for the future.”

Curriculum vitae

Name Brian Keane
Age 58

Position CEO of UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic

Lives Dalkey, Co Dublin

Family Wife – Julie

Education Terenure College, B Comm at UCD

Previous experience Trainee accountant with KPMG; finance director at Dimension Marketing; finance director at The Haughton Institute; finance controller at the Rotunda Hospital; CFO at the Hermitage Medical Clinic, and then at UPMC Beacon Hospital; director of finance at Beaumont Hospital; COO and then CEO at St Vincent’s Private; CEO of Bartra Capital Property Group Nursing Homes

Favourite pastimes Rugby and golf, and a love of travel

Favourite film ‘Gladiator’

Business lessons

What is the one lesson from your career that has stood you best?

Never look back with any regrets. If you are not happy somewhere, then don’t stay.

How challenging is it, working in the healthcare sector?

It can be tiring. It has been a tough year for everyone in healthcare.

How did it feel landing your first chief executive role, and what did you take from that experience?

Sometimes you don’t know everything. And then there is the fear of the unknown. But you learn an awful lot as you go along. It was a challenge, and I was nervous at the start – but I loved it. You get such a buzz out of it.