Seán Dempsey is 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 ki ...

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 ...

, coach, selector and former player. He played at minor, under-21 and senior level for the Laois county team. Dempsey later managed Laois at minor, under-21 and senior level and has been involved with the St Joseph's club, as well as several clubs in other counties (e.g.

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 ...

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland ...

Early life

Born to Jack Dempsey (originally from Laois) and Annie Spain (originally from

County 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 hon ...

), Dempsey is one of seven children: the others are Martin, Michael, P. J., Betty (Moore), Margaret (Farrelly) and Ann (Smith), all of whom have links with the St Joseph's club.

Playing career

As a player, Dempsey was a member of the St Joseph's club, winning four

Laois Senior Football Championship The Laois Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Laois GAA clubs. The Laois GAA, Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1888. Portarlington GAA, Portarli ...

titles with them. After his minor football career, he graduated to become a member of the Laois under-21 and senior football panels, playing alongside his brothers Martin and Mick for a number of years.

Post-playing career

Dempsey was

Laois GAA The Laois County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Laois) or Laois GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Laois. The county boar ...

's Football Officer from 1997 until 2007. He was chairman of the Leinster Provincial Council Football Committee between 2009 and 2014. During his spell with Laois minors he coached the underage teams. Dempsey led the team to the 2003

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under ...

title and to the 2004 Leinster Minor Football Championship title. He was selector under

Val Andrews Val Andrews was the manager for the Dublin Minor Football Team for the 2010 championship. Andrews is employed as a lecturer the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB). Andrews had previously managed Louth and Cavan and the Dublin Junior ...

when

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

won consecutive

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

titles in 2005 and 2006. He led Laois to successive

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

titles in 2006 and 2007. He also led the team to an

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 ...

final appearance in 2007, where they were defeated by Cork. Dempsey was appointed manager of the Laois senior team on the night of 15 September 2008. Despite a poor first season, with disciplinary problems surfacing in the panel,

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 cent ...

knocking the team out of the

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 (G ...

and

Down Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland, a ty ...

knocking the team out of the

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 ...

, Dempsey was unexpectedly retained as manager for one more year. After two relatively unsuccessful years in the position, he was relieved of the job in July 2010. Dempsey was later confirmed as manager of

Kildare GAA The Kildare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Kildare GAA, is one of 12 county boards governed by the Leinster provincial council of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in Cou ...

club

Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...

. Dempsey was involved when Jack Sheedy managed

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

to promotion from Division 4 of the 2015 National Football League. He managed

Offaly GAA The Offaly County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Uíbh Fhailí) or Offaly GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Offaly. Sepa ...

club Ferbane to an

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 ...

title in 2019. In December 2020, he was named as manager of Dublin Senior Football Championship club Ballinteer St John's. As of 2021, he was his club's coaching officer. He also managed the senior Laois ladies' county team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Sean Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Gaelic football coaches Gaelic football managers Gaelic football selectors Gaelic games club administrators Ladies' Gaelic football managers Laois inter-county Gaelic footballers Leinster GAA Longford county football team St Joseph's (Laois) Gaelic footballers