Date: 15th November 2025

Time: 10am – 2pm

Venue: Kilashee Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare

Full Speaker Line-Up Revealed

We are delighted to reveal our final line up for the 2025 Women in Coaching Network.

Self- Development, Challenge and Empowerment

Inspiring keynote speakers, thought-provoking and challenging interactive workshops and tangible takeaways. This is the only event in the country where female coaches from all sports and all levels can come together and create a strong and powerful network.

Introducing Our Two Key-Note Speakers

Martina  McCarthy OLY

Martina is the current Strength and Conditioning coach at the Sport Ireland Institute as well as the Performance Director for Pentathlon Ireland. Martina was Ireland’s youngest Olympian when she competed in Sydney in 2000 as part of the 4 x 400m relay team. She took a change of direction after her athletics career and at the age of 29 she was offered a contract to play Irish Sevens. Martina has worked across many sports from athletics to triathlon to modern pentathlon.

Martina currently works with some of Athletics Ireland’s high-profile sprinters and endurance athletes on their strength and conditioning. Martina offers multiple perspectives, coach, athlete, and performance director.

Lynne Cantwell

Brought up in a Gaelic football and soccer household, Cantwell’s first sport was, however, athletics, which she continued to pursue while studying sports science at the University of Limerick. It was after meeting Sarah Keane, the daughter of the late former Ireland men’s international Moss Keane, that Cantwell swapped her running shoes for rugby boots. It turned out to be an inspired decision, as Cantwell became a key player for not only the student side but also the newly formed UL Bohemians.

She was part of Ireland’s first ever women’s sevens team in 2006 (men’s or women’s), formed part of the squad for Ireland’s first World Cup 7s in Moscow 2013 and helped Ireland qualify for their first 7s World Series in the 2013/14 season. Post retirement, she joined Ireland’s Touch World Cup playing Senior mixed Touch in Malaysia 2019.

In more recent years Cantwell has been both an Executive Board member with Sport Ireland 2017-2024, Chair of the Women in Sport Committee and member of the High-Performance committee with Sport Ireland. Herself and her family relocated to Cape Town to take on the role as Women’s High-Performance Manager for SA Rugby. She is now Head of Women’s Strategy for the IRFU.

Speaker Workshops

Emma Cowley on “It’s Not You, It’s The System – Keeping Women in Coaching” 

From grassroots to elite levels, women coaches face multiple barriers that drive them out of the system. Through reflection and discussion, this session explores why so many women drop off along the coaching pathway, and how we can create environments that not only help women stay in but also lead the game.

Dr Emma Cowley is a sport and exercise researcher at the SHE Research Centre, TUS Athlone. Her work focuses on women’s (often invisible) experiences in sport and exercise. Drawing on research across the island and internationally, she explores how systems, not individuals, shape women’s opportunities to stay, lead and thrive in sport.

Carol Keenan on ‘Finding Balance: Managing Time, Energy, and Wellbeing in a Busy World’

Carol Keenan is a Performance Life Skills Consultant with the Sport Ireland Institute and former Player Development Manager with Rugby Players Ireland, supporting elite and professional athletes across rugby, hockey, and Olympic pathways. A registered Guidance Counsellor and Sport & Exercise Psychology graduate, Carol specialises in , and career development in high-performance environments. Carol’s work centres on helping individuals navigate the challenges of high performance, balancing wellbeing, workload, and career planning for lasting fulfilment.

Between work, family, volunteering and personal ambitions, many women in sport find themselves stretched thin. Carol explores how to manage time, protect wellbeing, and maintaining balance. This session offers real-world strategies to help you lead, perform, and live with greater balance.

There are still tickets available, but they are selling out fast so secure your spot.

Purchase Tickets here; https://eventmaster.ie/event/dB0KTnGSwV