Shane Keegan on his hobbies, how he got into management and the value of books

SHANE KEEGAN balances working as Head of Games Development with Laois GAA and manager of Cobh Ramblers, two sporting roles that he relishes. But how did he get involved in management, and what does he do in his, albeit limited, free time?

“I would have gone straight from playing with my local U18 side, to the following season, being manager of that U18 side,” Shane begins. “I would have been a couple of months older than the boys who would have been on the team.

“[It was] probably reasonably casually still at that point, even though I was very young, it didn't properly take off for me until I went to Australia when I was 21.

“I went up to our local to watch a young lads match, and there was one young lad playing and he was absolutely exceptional. 

It kind of got me thinking, because we live in the middle of nowhere, was he going to go undiscovered now?

“So, he was kind of the motivation to go out and get the coaching badges and see what I could do to try and help him fulfil his potential and our paths kind of tied together into the next few years.” 

One of the best management simulation games around is the Football Manager series, but was the game something Shane ever played?

“I did actually, I think most people did,” he admits. “It would have taken up far too much of my time in a period where I could have been concentrating on leaving cert exams and all that kind of stuff. It is a bit too addictive though!” 

INFLUENCE

A manager with a lot of experience and the results to speak for it, Keegan cites a few names as his influences in footballing management.

“When [José] Mourinho took over at Chelsea, even though I’m a Spurs fan, the first time I was obsessed with him. I think I’ve about four or five different Mourinho books at home.

“Since then, the one I would probably most align with in soccer in terms of managerial style and communication style is Carlo Ancelotti,” Keegan says. “I would have a massive admiration for Carlo and how he goes about doing his job. His autobiography is probably the best soccer management book I've ever read. Outside of soccer, it was a book that got me back into reading.

“I'd be big into reading now, but unfortunately, for my sins, I probably would have gone from my leaving cert for about 10 years after, where I don't think I ever read another book.

“Then I was going on a foreign holiday, I was around 27 or 28, and I picked up Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte’s autobiography in the airport.

“That was a phenomenal book and it kind of got me back into the concept of reading books for learning, because I just learned an incredible amount from Mickey Harte.

“It probably started to formulate my thinking as well around style of management and all that. Then the most recent one, without a doubt would be Steve Kerr, manager of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. He is probably my favourite coach in the world at the moment.

“I’d be very similar to the way he deals with people; I like the fact he’s heavily involved in the media, and I like that because I just think a lot of sports managers treat the media as the enemy, and I don't think there's any need for that.

“Currently I’m on Intensity, from Pep Lijnders, the Liverpool assistant manager. It's quite good actually, I'm only about halfway through that book.” 

With Keegan a big admirer of Steve Kerr and a huge Golden State Warriors basketball fan, the Cobh manager is also drawn to many more sports.

“The only popular sport that I wouldn’t be massively into would be rugby, I wouldn’t have much knowledge around rugby. I think I watched all of one of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup matches!

“Outside of that, I love all the majors in the golf, I love all the majors in the tennis. I love the bigger tournaments still in the snooker. I’d be a big fan of athletics and the Olympics and that side of things as well.

“In my youth, I would have been a fan of Formula 1, especially with an Irish team there with Eddie Jordan, but it’s not something I’d watch anymore. I didn’t even get into Drive to Survive!

“I would have done an extended interview with Pádraig Harrington before for the 42.ie, and I found him to be incredibly engaging fella, and Shane Lowry, his home would only be 20, 25 minutes from where I live here, and I’d always have one eye on Shane.

“I also did an extended interview with Paul McGinley, found him again to be very interesting,” Shane remarks. “Then obviously Rory [McIlroy] is just an incredibly intriguing personality.

“I'd be a big fan of his, I love that he's his own man and that he doesn't feel the need to beat his chest the whole time about his Irishness. 

That rubs a lot of people up the wrong way, but I actually admire that about him. 

Being a well-known League of Ireland manager means having a Wikipedia profile – but what’s that like for Shane?

“Not great, because I have a friend of mine who thinks it’s hilarious to constantly keep making edits on it! He gets a good kick out of that, so he does.”