Who is Sarah Keane, CI's new CEO?

Swim Ireland boss comes with impressive credentials but will Irish cricket's political landscape allow her talents to be brought to the table?

It didn’t take long for the winner’s name to pop up.

“Sarah Keane will get the gig,” said one well-connected figure in Irish cricket. This opinion, rather than a stonewall fact, was presented in September.

Six weeks later, the boss of Swim Ireland once again was mentioned in private dispatches as Cricket Ireland narrowed their search for a new CEO to handful of names.

Last Wednesday night, figures in the know once again highlighted the boss of Swim Ireland after that day’s board meeting ratified her appointment. Thursday morning, Ger Siggins splashed the news in the Daily Mail. Hours later, CI confirmed the badly-kept secret: the hunt for Warren Deutrom’s replacement had reached its conclusion.

In March 2026, Keane will move from Swim Ireland’s Abbotstown office to her new cricket digs in Kinsealy. Who is she and what does her career tell us about her cricketing prospects?

“She comes with impeccable credentials,” said CI chair Brian MacNeice of his soon-to-be new CEO. Of course, the man who just hired Keane would say that about his recruitment work over the last few months. Still, there is more than a kernel of truth to such an assessment.

Keane has been CEO of Swim Ireland since 2004. In terms of the highest profile marker of results - high performance success - Irish swimming achieved plenty on her watch. Last year’s Paris Olympics saw three medals won by Irish athletes in the pool, most notably Daniel Wiffen’s gold. Róisín Ní Riain also took home two medals in the Paralympics.

A small-budget Irish sport winning at the highest level? That is a big box to tick as far as fans of Irish cricket are concerned.

Keane’s status as a cricketing outsider has largely been welcomed. That CI needs to be ‘shaken up’ after a few stagnant years is the dominant public narrative. It’s easier to do the head bashing if not attached to unsuccessful practices of the past.

Other official demands focus on commercial factors. CI is has reached its most funding-rich state in its history, thanks to the well-publicised ICC funding hike of 2024. Yet the organisation is still struggling to live within its means.

Paying for actual cricket remains an issue. CI is flirting with the idea of moving home games to England next year (according to the BBC), while at least one member of the office staff has been told their contract won’t be renewed due to tightening of belts. Further cuts within the business, or at least measures which save on costs, are expected. For what it’s worth (and this isn’t necessarily reflective of Keane’s remuneration) one candidate during the CEO recruitment was told the salary on offer was in the range of €170-180,000.

After reaching the ceiling of its financial support from the ICC, Cricket Ireland needs to make the playing of actual cricket matches a viable pursuit. Time to increase sponsorship and broadcast revenue. MacNeice has already spoken of the need to change the practice of CI losing money virtually every time a series is broadcast. The rights package for home matches is up for renegotiation next year, a task which will be towards the top of Keane’s to-do list.

In terms of sponsorship, CI has improved its performance on this front in recent years. Figures aren’t available for the deal that saw Fáilte Solar become men’s jersey sponsors but those with knowledge of the sum have said they are satisfied with its value. Still, on both the sponsorship and broadcast front, more is needed.

“She is full of ideas on the journey ahead for Cricket Ireland,” said MacNeice. “Her vision very much aligns with the vision we’ve set out in terms of growing the game, participation numbers, growing interest and connection to the grassroots of the game. She’s got a clear vision of what it takes from a high performance system to get a sport delivering at the top end of international sport.”

While no one involved in CI would admit this publicly, Keane’s experience in crisis management can only be a positive, given the difficult PR hits her new employers have suffered in recent years. When she was first appointed to Swim Ireland in 2004, the governing body had to go to court to confirm their right to do so. They also had to deal with funding being withdrawn by the Irish Sports Council - now Sport Ireland - in that same year.

More recently, Swim Ireland was forced to respond after a BBC report made allegations of bullying against Jon Rudd, the former national performance director, from his time with a swimming club in England. The governing body said it was aware of a report into Rudd’s time at Plymouth Leander Swimming Club, but Swim England never shared details of the investigation.

Earlier this month, SI was also in the news when former Ireland swimmer Shane Ryan announced his intention to compete in the Enhanced Games, an event which allows athletes to take performance enhancing drugs. The governing body denounced the decision of their former athlete.

Lest we forget, in her guise as former president of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Keane took over after her predecessor Pat Hickey was arrested during a ticketing scandal at the Rio 2016 games.

While CI is currently involved as the defendant in a pair of High Court cases which have no listed judgement (the governing body previously declined to comment while these matters are before the courts), cricket’s list of governance issues appears less serious. The dominant issues in recent years have been fixture cuts, board appointments, player contracts and controversial company cars. While important, these pale in significance to accusations of bullying, withheld government funding, arrests at boardroom level and ex-employees (Ryan) risking the sport’s reputation.

The best solution to CI’s image issues is to have people in charge who don’t create such problems in the first place. The next best thing is to call upon someone with crisis management experience. Keane’s record on the former in cricket circles remains to be seen. She certainly has had to deal with plenty of the latter.

That’s all the good news, the boxes which Keane ticks. There nevertheless remain questions. MacNeice, CI’s chair, is an active player in the sporting governance industry. Through his day job, he has worked with Keane before, advising Swim Ireland. On one hand, this gave him a first hand view of his new hire’s ability. On the other, there is a question of being too professionally close to the successful candidate.

“Our process was completely independent, I wasn’t involved in the first round interview process,” says MacNeice. “It was open to everybody to apply, we had applicants from a wide variety of sectors.

“Sport Ireland had a representative in the final round, they oversaw the independent nature of the process as well, it’s very important that we hold ourselves to a high standard from a governance perspective. I’ve no issue with any of that. The process stands up to scrutiny.”

Another issue of note is Keane’s previous job. She was in charge of Swim Ireland for 21 years, besting the length of Deutrom’s oft-criticised tenure with CI by two years. It isn’t good for anyone to be in a senior leadership role for that long.

“She made the same comment,” agreed MacNeice. “This will not be a 19 or 21-year appointment, that’s for sure.”

For all her credentials, judgement on Keane’s time in charge of Irish cricket will need to be suspended for some time. She doesn’t formally take up her position until next March. Even if there is backchannel influence on certain decisions, without being in the office day after day, it will be difficult to have a significant sway over the dominant issues of the winter, namely women’s World Cup qualifier prep, fixture organisation and the ETPL. Her first winter in charge, the time when administrators set budgets and fixtures for the following year, won’t come for another 12 months.

The ETPL issue is another fascinating kernel in this conversation. Keane’s CI predecessor, Deutrom, was recently named ETPL director and chair of the league’s parent company, Rules X. While CI has been at pains to stress that it is a different entity to both the ETPL and Rules X, they do own 20% of the competition. They also have significant governance involvement with MacNeice serving as chair of the ETPL alongside his CI role. Andrew May, CI’s CFO, also sits on the league’s board.

These hierarchies and power dynamics will be worth watching. As the new CEO, Keane will be the one to make decisions on CI’s activity in an entity which, to put it mildly, is a PR nightmare. Yet the ETPL board, over which Keane has little sway given CI’s minority ownership, features both her day-to-day boss - MacNeice - as one of its most senior figures while a subordinate - CFO May - is also at the table.

That’s before you get to the man who did Keane’s job for nigh on 20 years, Deutrom, acting as a superior when it comes to ETPL dealings. That is if Keane has any official role, given she has not yet been formally appointed to a league position - it seems unfathomable that she will not be involved. Even for the most mature, magnanimous leaders, avoiding awkwardness in such a dynamic has to be tricky.

CI does have history when it comes to unclear hierarchies in governance appointments. A year on from Graeme West’s appointment as the man responsible for CI’s high performance strategy, there is little public clarity on the division of labour between him and Richard Holdsworth, the previous high performance director.

Confused? No one can blame you. The links between CI, the ETPL and the various senior players involved appear both somewhat justified and overly cosy. Amongst a range of other issues, it’s up to Keane to figure it all out.

While Irish cricket has its problems, this is still an attractive role. The government has committed to building a stadium in Abbotstown while T20 World Cup matches will be hosted in 2030. If the short-term financial woe and medium-term political manoeuvres can be managed, if Keane is allowed to bring her abilities to the table, someone with her track record could well build a positive long-term future for Irish cricket.