Colm O'Rourke is a sports broadcaster, columnist and former Gaelic footballer. His league and championship career with the Meath senior team spanned twenty years from 1975 to 1995. Born in Aughavas, County Leitrim, O'Rourke was raised in Skryne, County Meath after his family moved there in his youth. He played competitive Gaelic football during his schooling at St Patrick's Classical School in Navan. O'Rourke first appeared for the Skryne club at underage levels, before winning two county senior championship medals in 1992 and 1993. While studying at University College Dublin he won a Sigerson Cup medal in 1979. 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 medals in 1987 and 1988. He also won five Leinster medals, three National Football League medals and was named Footballer of the Year 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 where he has worked as a studio analyst with the flagship programme The Sunday Game for over twenty-five years. O'Rourke also writes a weekly column for the Sunday Independent.
Despite becoming a Meath county footballer, O'Rourke is not a Meathman by birth; he was born in the small parish of Aughavas within County Leitrim. He moved with his family as a youngster from Leitrim to County Meath O'Rourke is a descendant of the Uí Ruairc royal house ofBreffni. He has, however, been accepted by the people of Skryne in Meath as one of their own forty years after arriving from Aughavas. O'Rourke's son Shane also played with the Meath senior football team, while his nephew Paddy has played as a goalkeeper for Meath.
Playing career
As a Gaelic footballer, O'Rourke won two All-Ireland medals with Meath, in 1987 and 1988. He also won five Leinster Senior Football Championship medals and three National Football League titles. His involvement would be considered pivitol for Meaths 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'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.
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. O'Rourke managed Ireland's team that competed in the Compromise Rules competition on two outings, 1998 and 1999. O'Rourke is currently the manager for the Senior men's team in St Patrick's Classical School, they compete in the A division and in 2001, 2003 and 2004 they won the Hogan cup in the All-Ireland, they have got to the All-Ireland many of a time more recently in 2013. He is continuously being linked with managing the Meath senior football team, previously held by Seán Boylan, another man with Leitrim connections.
Teaching
O'Rourke is the secondary school principal in St Patrick's Classical School in Navan where he has trained the Gaelic football team to numerous successes at provincial and national level throughout the past two decades. Despite his classical education, he has been known to mix up his Latin with his Greek in public. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland he voiced his disagreement with current 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. In 2020, a minor controversy occurred when he was accused of using homophobic language on television.
