Colm O'Rourke (born 31 August 1957) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, former player, retired secondary school principal, sports broadcaster and columnist. His league and

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

career at senior level with the Meath county team spanned twenty years from 1975 to 1995. Born in Aughavas,

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...

, his family moved to

Skryne Skryne or Skreen ( , or originally called The Hill of Acaill) is a village in County Meath, Ireland. On and around a hill between the N2 and N3 roads, it is 10 km south-east of the centre of Navan and 35 km north-west of the centre ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, where O'Rourke spent his youth. He played competitive Gaelic football during his schooling at St Patrick's Classical School in

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

. O'Rourke first appeared for the

club at underage levels, before winning two county senior championship medals in 1992 and 1993. He gained his Bachelor of Arts degree (1978) and Higher Diploma in Education (1979) from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. While studying at

he won a

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

medal in 1979. He was awarded UCD Alumnus of the Year in Sport in 2016. O'Rourke made his debut on the inter-county scene when he was picked for the Meath minor team. He later joined the under-21 side but enjoyed little success in these grades. O'Rourke made his senior debut during the 1975–76 league. Over the course of the next twenty years he was a regular member of the starting fifteen and won back-to-back

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medals in 1987 and 1988. He also won five

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

medals, three

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

medals and was named

Footballer of the Year Footballer of the Year may refer to: Association football World * FIFA World Player of the Year (1991–2009) * FIFA Ballon d'Or (2010–2015) * The Best FIFA Men's Player (since 2016) Other * African Footballer of the Year * Asian Footballer o ...

in 1991. O'Rourke played his last game for Meath in July 1995. In retirement from playing O'Rourke combined his teaching career with a new position as a sports broadcaster. His media career began with

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

where he worked as a studio analyst with the flagship programme '' The Sunday Game'' for over twenty-five years. O'Rourke also managed the Meath senior team between 2022 and 2024, and writes a weekly column for the '' Sunday Independent''.

Early and family life

Despite becoming a Meath county footballer, O'Rourke is not a Meathman by birth; he was born in the small parish of Aughavas within

. He moved with his family as a youngster from County Leitrim to

O'Rourke's son Shane also played with the Meath senior football team, while his nephew Paddy played as a goalkeeper for Meath.

Playing career

As a Gaelic footballer, O'Rourke won two

medals with Meath, in 1987 and 1988. He also won five

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 GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

medals and three

titles. His involvement would be considered pivotal for Meath's success against Dublin at this time. O'Rourke received three All-Star for Meath in 1983, 1988 and 1991. His performance, playing with a bandaged knee, in the Dublin-Meath matches of the summer of 1991 are still recounted in Meath. When playing for Meath he was part of a full forward line of himself, Brian Stafford and Bernard Flynn, often considered to be one of the best full-forward lines of all time. In May 2020, O'Rourke was included in the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

s "Top 20 footballers in Ireland over the past 50 years", where he was regarded as inferior to such players as Donegal's Michael Murphy and Tyrone's

Seán Cavanagh Seán Cavanagh (born 16 February 1983) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for the Moy Tír Na nÓg club and for the Tyrone county team. He is a five-time All Star winner. He won All-Ireland Championships for Tyrone at minor lev ...

Management career

O'Rourke has managed Simonstown Gaels GFC in Navan, guiding them to two Meath Senior Football Finals in 2003 and 2004, only for the team to lose on both occasions. He also guided the club to its first adult title in 2005 when it won the Meath Football League Division 1. He led Simonstown Gaels to their very first Senior Championship in 2016 and then again in 2017. He returned as Simonstown manager for a fourth stint in November 2020, hinting that this would be his last managerial job. O'Rourke managed Ireland's team that competed in the Compromise Rules competition on two outings, 1998 and 1999. He ruled himself out of contention to replace Andy McEntee as county team manager in 2022, stating: "My beautiful wife Patricia has a very negative view toward managing the county team and with good reason when you see the upshot of Andy McEntee going and the social media abuse that has taken place. People who put in enormous time at their own expense - it's not like

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

getting £15m a year - and then being subjected to that sort of thing by unnamed people. I can't understand how, in a society, we can allow people to abuse others without having given their name and address. It's just a shocking indictment of society in general". In July 2022, O'Rourke was confirmed as the new manager of the Meath senior football team. O'Rourke led Meath to win the 2023 Tailteann Cup, the second-tier Gaelic football competition, after defeating Down on a scoreline of 2–13 to 0–14. Without a win in the 2024 All-Ireland SFC, and with a ten-point defeat to Louth behind him, O'Rourke ceased to be manager of Meath in August 2024.

Teaching

For 42 years O'Rourke worked at St Patrick's Classical School in

, first as a teacher, then later as principal. He also trained the school's Gaelic football team, managing them to numerous successes at provincial and national levels. In October 2022, O'Rourke announced that he would be retiring as principal to focus on his role as manager of the Meath senior inter-county men's team. Despite his classical education, he has been known to mix up his

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

with his

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

in public. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In Ireland, it has resulted in 1,753,206 cases ...

, he voiced his disagreement with the then education minister Joe McHugh's plan to delay the Leaving Cert until July as well as his plans to socially distance it. He voiced his concerns on how this would be feasible and on the safety of teachers overseeing the exam.

Media career

O'Rourke started working for RTÉ on '' The Sunday Game'' in 1991, and has been a contributed sports columns in the '' Sunday Independent''. He writes occasional columns for the ''Sunday Independent'' on the topic of education. O'Rourke also is slated to make a cameo role in "The Rising" an Irish film that covers the events of the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

. In 2020, O'Rourke was accused of using homophobic language on television.

Political beliefs

O'Rourke is an opponent of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

. He is an

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

. He has written about his disapproval of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

. O'Rourke wrote in defence of Phil Hogan after the Oireachtas Golf Society scandal forced the European Commissioner from office, describing Hogan as one of the "good people" and the "constant rage" at his wanderings around three

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s to play golf among other things as "a bit over the top". Original title in print edition was "Time is right to flip season on its head".

Career statistics

References

External links

Official Meath website

Colm O'Rourke
at the '' Sunday Independent'' {{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Colm 1957 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Broadcasters from County Leitrim Gaelic football forwards Gaelic football managers Gaelic games commentators Gaelic games writers Heads of schools in Ireland Ireland international rules football team coaches Irish columnists Irish sportswriters Leinster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Meath county football team non-playing personnel Meath inter-county Gaelic footballers Skryne Gaelic footballers Sportspeople from County Leitrim Sunday Independent (Ireland) people Texaco Footballers of the Year UCD Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football) Writers from County Leitrim 20th-century Irish businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople