Michael Joseph M. Barrett (1943 – 17 July 2021), also known as Jo Jo Barrett, was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He played for the

Austin Stacks Austin Stacks is a hurling and Gaelic football club based in Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Founded in 1917, the club has more All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals and GAA All-Stars than any other Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA ...

club and at senior level for the Kerry county team, before later serving as a club manager and, briefly, as manager of the Wexford county team.

Playing career

Born in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Barrett first came to

prominence as a schoolboy with Tralee CBS. He first appeared on the inter-county scene during a two-year tenure with the Kerry minor team before winning an All-Ireland Under-21 Championship title in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

. Barrett was just out of the minor grade when he made his senior debut during the 1961 Grounds' Tournament semi-final against

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 hono ...

. He was just 19-years-old when he came on as a substitute in Kerry's 1962 All-Ireland final defeat of

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 built ...

. Barrett subsequently won a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

title and was part of four

Munster Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurlin ...

-winning teams. He experienced club success in the twilight of his career, winning

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

titles with

Management career

After retiring from club football, Barrett immediately took over the management of the Austin Stacks club and guided the team to the 1977 All-Ireland Club Championship title. He later steered

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine giv ...

to a first Offaly County Championship title in 27 years. Barrett's tenure as manager of the

Wexford senior football team The Wexford county football team represents Wexford in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Wexford GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Irel ...

ended in controversial circumstances when he received a two-year suspension by the GAA's Games Administration Committee for striking referee

Mick Curley Michael "Mick" Curley (born 1953/1954) is a former Gaelic football referee from County Galway. Career Curley refereeing career peaked in the 1990s when he officiated the 1999 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, the only one between 1 ...

at the conclusion of their National League match against

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

Personal life and death

Barrett was the son of six-time

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

-winner

Joe Barrett Joe Barrett (17 July 1902 – 2 June 1952) was an Irish sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with his local club Austin Stack's and was a member of the Kerry senior inter-county team from 1923 until 1933. Barrett captained Kerry to th ...

. After a spell in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

working as a barman, labourer and house painter, he returned in 1989 to work as a journalist in

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

. Barrett died at his home in Barrow,

Ardfert Ardfert () is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only from Tralee. The population of the village was 749 at the 2 ...

on 17 July 2021. As of 1999, Barrett was working as a Gaelic Games reporter for the ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'' newspaper.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

;Austin Stacks *

Kerry Senior Football Championship The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 188 ...

: 1973, 1975 ;Kerry *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

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

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

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 ...

: 1962-63 *

All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ( ...

Munster Under-21 Football Championship The Munster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest ...

Manager

;Austin Stacks *

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Munster Senior Club Football Championship The Munster Senior Club Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition for the champion clubs of each county. It has been organised by the Mu ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

: 1976 ;Clara *

Offaly Senior Football Championship The Offaly Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Offaly GAA clubs. The Offaly County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1896. Rhode are the title holders (2022 ...

: 1991

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Jo Jo 1943 births 2021 deaths Austin Stacks Gaelic footballers Bartenders Gaelic football managers Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Irish expatriates in the United States Irish sports journalists Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers The Herald (Ireland) people Writers from County Kerry