The man who helped to transform Irish boxing into an Olympic medal-making machine at Beijing in 2008 and London 2012 is now working with the Irish rugby team.
Gary Keegan is a former Director of the Irish Institute of Sport and former High Performance Director with the IABA's high performance boxing programme.
He played a massive role in transforming Ireland's fortunes in the ring, with seven medals won over those two Olympic Games, including gold for Katie Taylor in London.
Last year, he worked with both the Dublin football and Tipperary hurling camps as they achieved All-Ireland title success.
Keegan has been working with Andy Farrell's squad for several weeks now, his recruitment clearly seen as part of the solution to the 'performance anxiety' that blighted Ireland's prospects at last year's World Cup.
Since 2018, Keegan has been the CEO of Uppercut, described on the company's website as a "unique advisory service that would transform how individuals and organisations achieved high performance in sport, business and leadership".
The 56-year-old has also worked with Leinster Rugby, currently sits on the IRFU National Professional Games Board and chairs Cricket Ireland’s High Performance Advisory Group.
Keegan's involvement was revealed by Ireland head coach Andy Farrell at his team announcement this afternoon.
Farrell was addressing the possibility of players who are out of contract next summer suffering from performance anxiety.
"As a head coach, I know all about that and I know where everyone is individually," said Farrell.
"Honestly, the feeling in the group, you would never know it exists. The players have been absolutely magnificent for a period of eight weeks, the drive has been second to none to want to learn and get better.
"You would never think that that's at the forefront of the mind, which is massive credit to them.
“We are dealing with stuff from a mental performance preparation aspect. It is something we are touching on constantly.
"Stress comes from people wanting to put their best foot forward when they are given the opportunity. How you deal with that, that's something we can help from the outside, to help them along with that stress.
"That's international football, isn't it? That's why it's so different and why everyone wants to be a part of it.
"Gary Keegan has been with us for some weeks now and he has been doing a tremendous job so that process has started.
"Mick Kearney was obviously in during previous years as the (team) manager but he is there as a mentor for many of the players as well.
"A lot of our players, it isn't just the stress of a match week, it is life outside of rugby as well and that can be a whole build-up in a different manager and Mick helps massively with that.
"With Gary and Mick we are well on our way to starting something there that will be a big help in the future.”
Keegan has been working with the players on a one to one and collective basis.
“It's all of the above," said Farrell. "Gary's mental skills as far as how that translates to performance is second to none and his whole connection piece in bringing the whole squad and the management into a place together is a big part of his remit.
"You try and do things your own way anyway so you are obviously starting afresh and trying to build, making sure that you don't put too many steps in front of them and that they can grow. That's pretty important, making sure that we build along the way.
“I have been asked questions about support and performance anxiety many times and you've got to be careful about how you throw things into the place and you are not putting too much in front of them.
"The process is started as we planned but it is something that will help us massively in the future.”
Experienced Ulster prop Rob Herring, who got the nod to start this week ahead of Ronan Kelleher, said that having Keegan involved has been beneficial so far.
"It's been good," he said. "It's something you probably hear a lot - trying to find an edge mentally and just to change things up.
"I guess it's good to get another person's insight into how we're doing in camp and some of the things he has picked up, what we can improve and what we're doing well.
"Individually, we're connecting with him and he's just looking at what your routine is and where you can make more improvements.
"We keep the team stuff among ourselves, and same with the personal things. It's nothing major, just small things he's noticing or where we can improve.
"Ultimately, everything you do individually adds up towards a better team performance. They are the main things we gain out of it".
