Niall O’Carroll has been appointed as Rowing Ireland’s new head of high performance
Rowing Ireland has appointed Niall O’Carroll as head of high performance.
O’Carroll has been the chair of the board of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association and oversaw the sometimes painful transition of the IABA to World Boxing, which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
Rowing Ireland had sought to appoint a high performance director, but twice came up short.
O’Carroll, who has experience in managing high performance but does not come to the post from a rowing background, will have a more managerial role than the outgoing high performance director, Antonio Maurogiovanni.
The coaching team, under lead coach Dominic Casey, can look back at a very successful World Championships, with two gold and two bronze medals won at Shanghai.
Rowing Ireland CEO Michelle Carpenter has overseen improvements at the National Rowing Centre, and new governance structures have been put in place.
The World Rowing Championships were a triumph for Fiona Murtagh, who came out on top in one of the hardest of all disciplines, the women’s single sculls. They also demonstrated the remarkable adaptability of Fintan McCarthy.
The Skibbereen man has won medals at the top level with a range of partners. He won Olympic gold – twice – with Paul O’Donovan, who has a particular sculling style.
In 2025 alone McCarthy has stood on the podium with four different partners: at the World Championships he took bronze in the double with Philip Doyle and gold in the mixed doubles with Mags Cremen; at the European Championships and World Cup in Lucerne he took bronze with Konan Pazzaia as his partner.
And he also won the double sculls at the Irish Championships this year – with his twin, Jake.
Jake would go on to take bronze in the lightweight single in Shanghai.