Michael Thomas Joseph Keane (born 29 December 1982) is an Irish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played on the left side of midfield. He played as a professional from 2000 until 2008, turning out for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

before ending his career when he was released by

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

Premier Division team

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

in 2008.

Playing career

Preston North End

Keane was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He started his career in 2000 at

, he was part of a decent youth team under

David Moyes David William Moyes (born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player, who currently manages Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton. He was the 2003, 200 ...

that helped strengthen the club's position in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. Keane came to prominence in the 2001–02 season where he played alongside

Jon Macken Jonathan Paul Macken (born 7 September 1977) is a football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He is manager of Stalybridge Celtic. He began his career with Premier League side Manchester United in 1995 but was rele ...

. After twice breaking his foot, and only making one start during the 2002–03 season, he was made available for loan and joined fellow First Division side

on the transfer deadline day in March 2003. He joined The Mariners with the hope of saving them from relegation. Despite playing well, and scoring two goals, Grimsby were relegated. Despite interest from Grimsby in signing Keane on a permanent basis, he returned to

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

following the end of the season and returned to first team action for Preston.

Hull City

After four years and over 50 games at Preston, Keane signed for

for £500,000 in June 2004, saying "It's dropping down a division, but I look at it as a stepping stone. I think this is a club that's definitely on the up", and was part of an impressive squad that was put together at the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

club. However, he started only twelve games during the 2004–05 season and with no future at the club, he was loaned out to

for one month in March 2005.

Rotherham United

After impressing during his loan spell at

Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County between 1907 and 1925, and then its successor Rotherham United until 2008. The stadium ...

, Keane signed for the club permanently on a two-year contract. He featured extensively for Rotherham during the 2005–06 season until an operation on a hernia condition in November 2005 ruled him out for several weeks. Later in the season, after returning from the operation, he was sent off against Tranmere in April 2006, leading to a five-match ban that ruled him out for the rest of the season. He was later charged with persistent misconduct by the Football Association having been sent off three times during the season. He was released at the end of the 2006–07 season following the relegation of Rotherham from League One.

St Patricks Athletic

Following his release he signed with St Patricks Athletic where he remained for one season and played in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. In the 2008 season he made only two substitute league appearances and in July 2008, he was unlawfully sacked and discriminated against by the club who called him overweight. The following month it was ruled the club were wrong to sack him. In December 2008,

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

offered him a contract, but Keane opted to do his uefa coaching badges where he received UEFA A and B Badges.

Coaching career

Keane moved into coaching for O'Deveney Dunard in the Athletic Union League before replacing Anto Brennan as manager when Brennan moved on. He later took over at Stella Maris Under 15s before leaving a few months later. Keane then had a stint with Brendanville, followed by his appointment at Dingle United FC as their AUL Premier B manager. He left in April 2015. In May 2015 he took over at Hardwicke FC as 1st Team Manager. He led them to promotion to the top flight of amateur football for the first time in the club's history. Keane decided to part ways the following season leaving his assistant in charge. It was believed to be for personal reasons.

Personal life

In April 2025, Keane was jailed for two and a half years for sexually assaulting a woman in his taxi.

References

External links

*
Ireland stats
at 11v11 {{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Michael 1982 births Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Living people Rotherham United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Association footballers from Dublin (city) 21st-century Irish sportsmen