Graham Barrett

Arsenal

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Barrett signed professional terms with Arsenal in October 1998. He made his debut for the Gunners as a late substitute for Thierry Henry in a 3–0 victory at Leicester City in December 1999 He also featured as a substitute in their 4–1 win over Sunderland the following month. Having already won the 1998 UEFA Under-16 Championship with Ireland, Barrett then captained Arsenal's youth team to win the 2000 FA Youth Cup. During one of the final's two legs he received the man of the match award. Following such Gunners' manager Arsène Wenger encouraged Barrett to go out on loan to gain some experience. As so he joined up with club Bristol Rovers in December 2000. However he played just 20 minutes under Ian Holloway, and was diagnosed with glandular fever thus losing a stone in weight and spending six-months on the sidelines. During the 2001–02 season, Barrett again went out on loan, this time to Crewe Alexandra, where he made three appearances in his month-long loan stint. He then returned to Arsenal before Wenger agreed to allow him to join Colchester United on loan in December 2001. Barrett quickly became a fan favorite at the club, in scoring a brace during a 3–2 win against Northampton Town on Boxing Day 2001. These were his first goals in professional football in only his third game with the U's. Barrett then netted a further two goals in 20 games for Colchester, but an injury suffered during a 0–0 draw with Wycombe Wanderers curtailed…

Barrett represented the Republic of Ireland since the age of 15. He was a part of the Irish side which won the 1998 UEFA European Under-16 Championship in Scotland. He went on to play eleven under-18 games for Ireland, scoring four goals. Barrett then scored on his senior debut for Ireland in a 3–0 victory over Finland.

Club

International

Scores and results list the Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Barrett goal.

Having grown up close to Tallaght, Barrett followed his father, Gary, in playing for Shamrock Rovers. Gary began his playing career with Shamrock Rovers in 1980 under Johnny Giles, where he scored a number of goals. This factor was a draw to Graham when joining the club himself in 2009. His son, Cian Barrett, made his Shamrock Rovers first team debut in 2023.