Barrett began his hurling and Gaelic football career at club level with Cobh.
He enjoyed his greatest success in 1994 when he was part of the Cork Minor Football Championship-winning team.
Barrett is one of only a handful of players to have won the complete set of Munster Championship medals - minor, under-21, junior, intermediate and senior.
At inter-provincial level, he was selected to play in two championship campaigns with Munster, with Railway Cup medals being won on both occasion in 2000 and 2001.
Partial Reference: Cork GAA website Inter-County SHC Results and Teams.