BAREFOOTPHYSIO - Key Persons


Alan Lyons

Alan has over 20 years of experience working with babies, children and adults of all ages and abilities. Since graduating from UCD in 2001 Alan has worked for the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin and Enable Ireland Cork and Kerry Children's Services before founding barefootphysio with his wife Denise in 2016. As well as completing the MScPhysio programme in UL in 2009, Alan is a qualified Bobath/NDT Therapist, Yoga Teacher and Natural Movement Coach.

Anne-Marie O' Donoghue

Job Titles:
  • Clinic Manager
Anne-Marie is our Clinic Manager and has over 30 years experience in customer service roles. She is responsible for the day to day running of our clinic in Cork and manages appointments for all of our clinics. Anne-Marie works hard to ensure all clients receive a friendly, warm welcome on arrival and throughout their visit. She looks after accounts, billing, payments and receipts.

Denis O'Leary

Job Titles:
  • Manual & Sports Injury Therapist
Denis is a Neuromuscular and Sports Therapist and is a member of the Irish Association of Neuromuscular and Massage Therapists and Register of Orthopaedic and Soft Tissue Therapists of Ireland. Denis' services include: Injury Assessment and Treatment Trigger Point Dry Needling Deep Tissues Massage Manual Therapy Electrotherapy Postural Assessments Pitchside First Aid In addition Denis provides Manual Therapy for children and young people as prescribed by our physiotherapists. He also provides match day First Aid cover and follow up treatments with various sports clubs including UCC Rugby Club, UCC GAA Club and St. Michaels GAA Club.

Denise Walsh-Lyons

Denise has over 20 years experience working with adults of all ages and abilities. Since graduating from UCD in 2001 Denise worked in Cork University Hospital before moving on to private practice. Denise developed a successful clinic in Blackpool, Cork before relocating to Kerry and founding barefootphysio with Alan in 2016. Denise is also a qualified Yoga Teacher and Pilates Instructor.

Lisa Enright

Lisa graduated with a first class honours degree in BSc Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Limerick in 2008 and subsequently with an MSc in Physiotherapy from King's College London in 2010. Lisa has worked in acute and community settings as a physiotherapist in London treating both adults and children, before relocating to Dublin in 2015 specialising in paediatrics as a rotational physiotherapist in Temple Street Children's University Hospital. In 2018, Lisa joined Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin as a Senior Physiotherapist in Elective and Trauma Orthopaedics. Having relocated to Kerry with her family, Lisa joined barefootphysio Kerry in 2023. Lisa has a passion for working with younger children and engaging these clients in therapy through play

Niamh Gartland

Niamh joined barefootphysio Dublin in 2020. She has specialised in paediatrics and neurorehabilitation since graduating from UCD's BSc Physiotherapy programme. She completed her CME I training in Toronto in 2021, and uses CME extensively in her practice. She also has an interest in play-based and functional task specific rehabilitation, using childrens' preferred sports, games and interests to guide and enhance their therapy.

Ray McCarthy

Ray graduated top of his class with a first class honours in Physiotherapy from UL in 2011. Over the past 11 years, Ray has worked in a variety of clinical settings in both Ireland and Singapore including HSE, Enable Ireland, Jurong Health and Private Paediatric Practice. Ray has a special interest in Paediatric Neurology and completed further training in Cuevas Medek Exercises (CME) and Dynamic Movement Intervention (DMI). Ray is also a Certified Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms) and enjoys doing calisthenics in his spare time.

Santi Comino

Job Titles:
  • Personal Trainer EFQ Level 6
Santi joined barefootphysio Cork in 2022. Santi graduated as a Sport Scientist with a focus on Promotion of Health-oriented Physical Activity at University of Huelva, Spain in 2020, and since then has also completed an ‘Injuries and Pain Trainer Course (IPTC)'. Following graduation Santi spent 1 year in Spain working with teenagers, adults and the elderly, before moving to Ireland. Santi worked between One Arena and One Life Fitness, doing personal training, group training and fitness classes, before joining barefootphysio. Santi is very talented at adapting exercises and activities for children and those with disabilities, and has many strategies and games which help with motivation and engagement.

Sinéad Sweeney

Sinéad joined the barefoot team in 2019. Having initially graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Sport Rehabilitation in 1998, she went on to gain her BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy in 2000. Sinéad has worked in the UK, Ireland and Australia in both adults and paediatrics. On returning from her travels, Sinéad pursued her long term goal to return to the acute paediatric setting and took up a Senior Physiotherapy post in the Children's Hospital Ireland, Crumlin in 2004. She worked in acute Cardio-respiratory care, before returning to home to Cork in 2016. Sinéad took some time off to be with her young family before returning to work in 2019. Sinéad has also worked in private musculoskeletal practices and with many sports teams including; Irish Men's Hockey, Leinster Schools Rugby U18s and U19s, and Cork Harlequins Hockey Club. She is also a qualified Stott pilates teacher.