Brendan Hackett (born 1960) is a Gaelic football manager, sports psychologist and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Athletics Ireland Athletics Ireland, officially the ''Athletic Association of Ireland'' or AAI, is the governing body for athletics in Ireland, with athletics defined as including track and field athletics, road running, race walking, cross country running, mount ...

, who is currently managing

Ballymun Kickhams Ballymun Kickhams ( Irish: ''Ciceam Bhaile Munna'' ) is a GAA club in Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland. The club has a clubhouse and its home pitch, ''Pairc Ciceam'', just off the Ballymun (junction 4) exit of the M50. Ballymun also has a full size ...

. He previously managed the Longford,

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in h ...

and

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

county teams during the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He has also trained the

Ireland international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Irish women's team, see Ireland women's international rules football team.'' :''This article concerns the hybrid sport of International Rules Football; for information on Ireland's n ...

and worked with numerous county teams as a psychologist during the 21st century.

Career

Hackett's first management role was Limerick's Thomond College at the age of 20 (1981–1983). As manager of

Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , IPA: �lʲeːmʲənˠˈwɾˠad̪ˠaːnʲ is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border betwee ...

(1983–1985), one of his players was

Jack O'Shea Jack O'Shea (born 19 November 1957 in Cahersiveen, County Kerry) is an Irish former sportsperson. He played Gaelic football at various times with his local clubs St Mary's in Kerry and Leixlip in Kildare. He was a member of the Kerry senior fo ...

. Hackett managed Longford's senior footballers between 1987 and 1990, taking the role at the age of 26. Longford made the 1988

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GA ...

semi-finals and also two quarter-finals of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He trained Ireland for the

1990 International Rules Series The 1990 International Rules Series was the fourth series between Australian rules footballers from Australia and Gaelic footballers from Ireland. The series took place in Australia and consisted of three test matches between the Australian and I ...

. He managed Offaly's senior footballers between 1990 and 1992. The GAA gave him a postgraduate scholarship in 1992, which Hackett used to obtain an MA in Sports Psychology from the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

. He coached

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

s Noel Cullen and James Nolan. He also worked as a sports psychologist with

Team Ireland Team Ireland was a stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1991 and 1992. Owned by Irishman Martin Birrane, the team posted a best finish of thirteenth with driver Bobby Hillin Jr. Winston Cup Series Car No. ...

's boxers and sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He also had involvement with other Irish Olympic teams. He worked as a psychologist with

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

(2001), Sligo (2002),

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...

(2003),

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

(2004),

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Lette ...

(2006) and

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

(2007). In the midst of this, Hackett was chief executive officer of Athletics Ireland from October 2005 until his resignation in January 2008.

Westmeath GAA The Westmeath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae na hIarmhí) or Westmeath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County W ...

, searching for a manager after the resignation of

Tomás Ó Flatharta Tomás Ó Flatharta is a Gaelic football manager who is originally from County Kerry. He has managed three county teams: Westmeath, Galway and Laois. Playing career Durling his playing days, Ó Flatharta played for his local An Ghaeltacht ...

, appointed Hackett as senior and under-21 football manager in September 2009, with the choice of someone who had not managed at that level for many years seen as unexpected. Hackett included

Michael Carruth Michael Carruth (born 9 July 1967) is a southpaw Irish Olympic boxer from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000. Amateur boxing ;Ol ...

as a masseur and

Eoin Rheinisch Eoin Rheinisch (born 21 February 1980 in Dublin) is an Irish slalom canoeist and three-time Olympic competitor. He competed at the international level from 1996 to 2013. He is from Leixlip, County Kildare. Olympic record Rheinisch competed a ...

as part of "physical preparations" on his backroom team. Westmeath embarked on a second successive league campaign without winning a game and were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to Division 3 of the National Football League. Hackett resigned in April 2010. He did not contest a single championship match. Hackett later managed the

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

minor football team, where his players included the actor

Paul Mescal Paul Mescal (; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. Born in Maynooth, he studied acting at The Lir Academy and subsequently performed in plays in Dublin theatres. Mescal rose to fame with his role in the miniseries '' Normal People'' (2020), ...

. He then assisted the Down senior football team as a psychologist. As the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

emerged in 2020, Hackett was managing the

footballers. He led that club to the

2020 Dublin Senior Football Championship The 2020 Dublin Senior Football Championship was the 134th edition of Dublin GAA's premier gaelic football tournament for senior clubs in County Dublin, Ireland. 32 teams participate (16 in Senior 1 and 16 in Senior 2), with the winner of Sen ...

. In 2022, still managing Ballymun, Hackett was reported to have been interviewed for the

senior football team's managerial vacancy that arose following

Séamus McEnaney Séamus McEnaney (born 1967/1968) is a Gaelic football manager and businessman. He has managed his native Monaghan county team (in two spells), as well as the Meath and Wexford county teams. Business career McEnaney is in charge of Westenr ...

's departure.

Personal life

Hackett is originally from Monaghan. He is a member of the Donore Harriers athletics club in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

References

External links

"Hackett wrong man to steady Westmeath ship"
Independent.ie. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett, Brendan 1960s births Living people Ballymun Kickhams GAA Down county football team Fermanagh county football team Gaelic football managers Ireland international rules football team Limerick county football team Monaghan county football team Roscommon county football team Sligo county football team Sports psychologists Wexford county football team