Malachy O'Rourke 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 ...

and former player for the Fermanagh county team. He has been manager of the senior Tyrone county team since 2024. He previously managed Fermanagh and

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

Career

He played for

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

for more than ten years, but was only on the winning side twice in that period in the championship (both time against Antrim). When he was studying to be a

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher at

St Mary's University College, Belfast St Mary's University College is a university college in Belfast, Northern Ireland. History The origins of the College can be traced back to 1900 when the Dominican Sisters opened St Mary’s Training College on the present Falls Road campus with ...

, O'Rourke played on the St Mary's team that won the 1989

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 ...

along with people like

Jarlath Burns Jarlath Burns (; born 1968) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer and current president of the GAA. His league and championship career at senior level with the Armagh county team spanned thirteen seasons from 1987 until 1999. Career Burns deb ...

Pascal Canavan Pascal Canavan is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Tyrone County team. He played in Tyrone's second All-Ireland Final appearance in 1995 and captained Errigal Ciaran in 2002. He retired from inter-county football in 2002, followi ...

Seamus Downey Seamus Downey is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Lavey club and the Derry county team in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000. He retired from inter-county football in 2000. Downey was part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Championship winning ...

, Danny Quinn and

Benny Tierney Brendan "Benny" Tierney (Irish: Breandan Ó Tiarnaigh) is a former Gaelic football goalkeeper who played at senior level for the Armagh county team between 1989 and 2002, and also for the Mullaghbawn club. In the later part of his career, Tie ...

. His thesis was on the

VO2 max V̇O2 max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or maximal aerobic capacity) is the maximum rate of respiration (physiology), oxygen consumption attainable during physical exertion. The name is derived from three abbreviations ...

of Gaelic footballers. He left his club

Derrylin Derrylin ( or "Oakgrove of the blackbirds") is a village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is on the A509 road between Enniskillen and the border with County Cavan (the N3 road to Dublin). It had a population of 634 in t ...

in the early 1990s and got a transfer to Errigal Ciarán because he had moved to Ballygawley,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, on account of him teaching at St Joseph's,

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

, and his wife teaching in Derrylatinee

Eglish Eglish () is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is about 6 km southwest of Dungannon, in the Mid Ulster District Council area. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 93. The village has grown in a dispersed form and ...

, so Ballygawley in South Tyrone worked for the pair of them. He got himself settled with Errigal Ciarán and won two championships. He began his coaching career with Tyholland in 2001 and got them promoted to the senior grade for the first time in his first season. Two years after that he took

The Loup The Loup () is a small village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, vario ...

job and won them their first Senior Championship in 68 years, followed up by a first ever Ulster title. Errigal Ciarán approached him to take over as manager in 2006 and he won a Senior Championship with them. Then he moved to Cavan Gaels, and won a Cavan Senior championship in 2007. O'Rourke succeeded Charlie Mulgrew as Fermanagh senior manager in October 2007. His first season featured a first appearance in the Ulster SFC final for 26 years, losing eventually to

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

in a replay. It was only Fermanagh's second appearance in the final of the competition in 63 years, knocking out Monaghan and

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

along the way. His time as Fermanagh manager ended in 2010, after Fermanagh were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to Division 4 of the National Football League and a heavy defeat to Monaghan in the 2010 Ulster SFC semi-final. O'Rourke took the Monaghan job in 2013, and won a first Ulster Senior title for 25 years. He took Monaghan from Division 3 to Division 1 in successive seasons. Under his stewardship, he led Monaghan to a first win over Kerry in 27 years during the 2015 National League. They also lost narrowly against

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in the same year's League semi-final. They reached the Ulster final in the next two seasons, which was three final appearances in a row, the first time in 92 years for Monaghan. He managed the county to four All Ireland Senior quarter finals and took them to the 2018 All Ireland Senior semi final, only losing by a point to Tyrone before he left in June 2019. He was appointed manager of the men's Senior football team at Watty Graham's GAC, Glen, a club near

Maghera Maghera ( ; ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,235 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Formerly in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Loughinsholin within the historic County ...

in Derry, in October 2020; this was his first job since he left Monaghan in June 2019. With Glen, he won three

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champio ...

s in a row 2021, 2022 and 2023, their first ever county titles. In 2022 and 2023, he led them to the Ulster Club Championship titles and in 2024 the All Ireland Club Championship title. O'Rourke was linked with the

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 ...

job when

Andy McEntee Andy McEntee is a Gaelic football manager. He was manager of the Antrim county team between 2022 and 2025, having managed his native Meath between 2016 and 2022. Career McEntee managed Meath to the final of the 2012 All-Ireland Minor Football ...

left the post in June 2022. On 10 September 2024, he was announced as Tyrone manager. This meant he departed his role on the Football Review Committee.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Malachy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship winning managers Fermanagh county football team non-playing personnel Fermanagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football managers Gaelic games administrators Monaghan county football team non-playing personnel People from Derrylin Place of birth missing (living people) Tyrone county football team non-playing personnel