The Most Handsome Intercounty GAA Managers In Ireland Revealed

Mickey Harte, manager of the Louth Senior footballers, has been deemed the most handsome of all 45 top tier intercounty managers in the GAA just as the 2023 Championship season is starting to get into full swing, research by Gambling.com can reveal.

As we are all aware of, beauty is subjective. However, with technology having an ever-increasing impact on our daily lives we relied on the popular beauty measurement app Golden Ratio Face to help us figure out which intercounty GAA manager is the most appealing when it comes to their facial aesthetics. 

Golden Ratio Face is inspired by the Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi – a measure of physical perfection according to ancient Greeks. It has been downloaded over one million times on smart devices and users are given the opportunity to upload portraits to the app to then receive a ‘Face Beauty Analysis’. 

The real Golden Ratio is approximately a score of 1.618, however the app has simplified matters to give users a basic score out of 10 on facial symmetries. It really is incredibly difficult to achieve a high score though, as you’ll see in the results of the research we’ve conducted. 

With the Football Championship in its infancy and the Hurling Championship due to start this weekend, it’s former Tyrone head honcho and current Louth boss Harte that has beaten out the rest of the competition in the ratings. 

However, not even Harte could scoop a ‘Perfect’ rating on the Golden Ratio Face app, which is awarded to an individual who scores more than nine out of 10 in the analysis. 

The former All-Ireland-winning coach fell just short of the mark by only 0.11, but was one of only 12 managers who was awarded a verdict of ‘pretty’ by the technology. 

Despite an agonising defeat to eventual champions Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final, Galway’s Henry Shefflin is not showing it on his face and has landed second spot on the list - with an impressive tally of 8.80. 

He also has the honour of being the most physically appealing manager out of the 11 counties that will begin their battle for the Liam MacCarthy Cup this weekend.

Shefflin currently occupies the job previously held by Micheál Donoghue, who ended 29 years of hurt for the Tribesmen when he led them to All-Ireland glory in 2017 and he has since taken charge of Dublin. 

Donoghue will no doubt be pleased to be ranked at number three in the standings with a tidy score 8.68 and he is joined in the top five by London’s Michael Maher (8.61) and Paddy Christie of Longford (8.53).

Interestingly, 77.78% of Ireland’s top GAA managers (35 of 45) secured a rating above seven out of 10, meaning that only 10 head coaches (22.22%) are deemed ‘ugly’ by the app. 

Surprisingly, Conor Laverty - who was only in his first year in charge of the Down footballers - occupies the final spot in the table with a lowly rating of just 4.20, and he finds himself below the likes of Cork’s John Cleary (4.92) and Tony McEntee (5.49) of Sligo.

The overall average rating for all of the GAA’s intercounty managers comes in at healthy 7.38. Meanwhile, Munster only just beat out Connacht as the province with the most gorgeous people in the bainisteoir bib, scoring an average of 7.462 - Connacht were just behind with a total of 7.461. 

Meanwhile, Ulster lagged way behind the rest of the provinces, only grabbing an average rating of 7.11 for its managers, being over 0.3 off the 7.40-plus result achieved by Munster, Connacht and Leinster.

Finally, there is a big gap between the Gaelic sports when it comes to which discipline has the most handsome managers. Hurling’s bosses landed a more than respectable average of 7.81, while their football colleagues could only net a score of 7.24.

Speaking on the research, Gambling.com spokesperson Shaun Cronin said: “Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but - as Louth already know - Mickey Harte may just have the full package.

“Just like the blanket defences Harte has set up in his stellar career, technology hits hard in its objective algorithmic assessment - especially with the managers whose portraits we ran through the app.

“Harte has the Wee County on a Cinderella-like run since taking over in November 2020, securing back-to-back National League titles in Division 4 and Division 3. But his stunning score of 8.89 out of 10 shows that his face doesn’t reflect the hard-nosed play his side produces on the field.

“We are a little shocked to see Conor Laverty rank as low as he is, as the 37-year-old is one of only five GAA bosses to dip under the six mark in the ratings. He will be hoping his county’s football - and not his facial features - will be what has people talking this Championship season. 

“As for the Provinces, the Ulster Football Championship has long been considered one of the most ferocious competitions in Gaelic Football and maybe it’s starting to show on the faces of the managers that have to compete in it. 

“That’s because it has the lowest average when it comes the facial features of its managers at just 7.11 - although their hurling counterpart from Antrim, Darren Gleeson, has done his best to help the average of his football brethren in the province with a personal score of 7.61. 

GAA Betting: What Are The All-Ireland Football Championship Odds?

GAA Betting: What Are The All-Ireland Hurling Championship Odds?

“Meanwhile, the football and hurling supremos of Munster are sitting top of the pile on an eye-catching average of 7.462 – piping their Connacht neighbours by just 0.001.

“Take these results with a pinch of salt though, as the technology can be a harsher taskmaster than John Kiely. No one will care about someone having a ‘pretty’ face under their helmet or wearing a mouthguard as long as they are bringing glory to their county in the 2023 Championship season.”

Methodology

Pictures from a Google Images search were used in conjunction with the Golden Ratio Face app. In some cases, decimals were rounded up or down to ensure consistency in the digits. 

The managers involved come from counties involved in the race for the Sam Maguire, Tailteann Cup and Liam MacCarthy competitions. Note, Tyrone have two entries due to the county having joint-managers in charge of their Gaelic Football team.