Jacqui Hurley (born 15 January 1984, in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

) is a sports broadcaster and chat show host employed by

Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...

(RTÉ), Ireland's national radio and television station, where she is a regular sports news presenter on

RTÉ News RTÉ News and Current Affairs ( ga, Nuacht agus Cúrsaí Reatha RTÉ), also known as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, nationa ...

and has co-presented ''Sunday Sport'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

since February 2009. Hurley has played at the highest Irish level in the sports of basketball and

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

and currently manages the Irish under-16 girls basketball team.

Early years

Hurley grew up in Australia in the 1980s. She is the daughter of David and Mairead Hurley and sister of Catriona and Sean. She played basketball for Ireland and

for

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and has since taken on a management role with the Irish under-16 female basketball team. She is a sports enthusiast. She graduated from

Mary Immaculate College Mary Immaculate College (Coláiste Mhuire gan Smál), also known as MIC and Mary I, is a College of Education and Liberal Arts. Founded in 1898, the university level College of Education and the Liberal Arts is academically linked with the Univ ...

(MIC) in 2006 with a degree in Media and Communication Studies. She has

webbed toes Webbed toes is the informal and common name for syndactyly affecting the feet—the fusion of two or more digits of the feet. This is normal in many birds, such as ducks; amphibians, such as frogs; and some mammals, such as kangaroos. In humans i ...

, a feature of her anatomy which she has openly discussed on radio. She was paralysed for several days when she was 17 due to a sports accident after she and another player crashed into each other.

Career

Television

Hurley initially spent some time as an intern with

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, United States. She also worked in local radio before joining RTÉ in 2006. She was only supposed to stay with CBS for eight months but she remained for a year, developing her love of sports broadcasting. Hurley's RTÉ television work includes reports for the sports magazine '' OB Sport'', a Friday preview slot on the daytime chat show ''

Seoige ''Seoige'' is an Irish television chat show. The show, hosted by sisters Gráinne and Síle Seoige, was broadcast live on weekdays at 16:30 on RTÉ One, with a hiatus in the summer months. Episodes were repeated at 08:20 the following weekday ...

'', the weekly "60 Sixty" segment on the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

magazine programme ''

Monday Night Soccer ''Monday Night Soccer'' is a former football television programme shown on RTÉ Two each Monday evening during the football season. Presented by Peter Collins, he was usually joined by two guests, like manager Damien Richardson and former Mill ...

'' aired on

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

, where she questions a different footballer each week for sixty seconds. Hurley has presented the sports quiz show '' Know The Score'' on RTE since November 2016.

Radio

Hurley started working for

Limerick's Live 95fm Live 95 is a radio station in Ireland owned by Wireless Group, broadcasting mainly to Limerick city and county, in Ireland. Radio Station are Mass Communication sites which will Give us Knowledge and Information. History The station was laun ...

in Limerick after her time in college, where she covered Munster's 2006 Heineken Cup win for the station. On 18 October 2018 while speaking on Limericks Live 95 FM, Joe Nash asked Des Cahill how Jacqui Hurley was getting on. Joe Nash made reference to the fact Jacqui Hurley has a soft spot for Limerick. Joe Nash is owner/presenter of Limericks Live 95FM, the station where Jacqui Hurley worked in the early 2000s. She often appeared on '' The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show'' on

RTÉ 2fm (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

where he
sports blog
was a regular feature. In early 2009, Hurley took over as the co-presenter of ''Sunday Sport'' alongside Con Murphy on

. In doing so she made history as the first ever female presenter in the 40-year history of ''Sunday Sport'' at the age of 25. She writes the "Jacqui's Week" column for ''Sunday Sport''.

Writing

Hurley's first book, ''Girls Play Too: Inspiring Stories of Irish Sportswomen'', was published by Merrion Press in September 2020. An illustrated children's book, ''Girls Play Too'' celebrates some of Ireland's top contemporary female athletes.

Personal life

She lives in Dublin with her husband, Shane McMahon. They have two children, Luke and Lily. In August 2011, she and

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 ...

footballers Eamonn Fennell and

Eoghan O'Gara Eoghan O'Gara (born 24 September 1985) is a Gaelic footballer who played as a forward at senior level for the Dublin county team. O'Gara attended St. Josephs BNS primary school in Terenure. Playing career O'Gara made his Championship debut fo ...

launched the Tomás Mulligan Memorial Cycle, an annual event held in aid of suicide crisis centre

Pieta House Joan Freeman (; born 2 April 1958) is an Irish psychologist, mental health activist and an Independent politicians in Ireland, Independent politician who served as a Seanad Éireann, Senator from 2016 to 2020, after being Nominated members of Se ...

. Her brother Seán was killed in a car crash at the age of 25 on 30 November 2011.

References

External links

Jacqui's Sports Blog

Jacqui's Week
at ''Sunday Sport''
Jacqui Hurley
at Facebook
Jacqui Hurley's closing thoughts on London 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurley, Jacqui 1984 births 20th-century Irish people Living people Alumni of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick Cork camogie players Irish women's basketball players Irish bloggers Irish columnists Irish DJs Irish sports broadcasters RTÉ Radio 1 presenters RTÉ 2fm presenters Electronic dance music DJs Irish women columnists Irish women radio presenters Irish women bloggers