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

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, former player, retired secondary school principal, sports broadcaster and columnist. He has been manager of the Meath county team since 2022. O'Rourke's league and championship career at senior level with the Meath county team spanned twenty years from 1975 to 1995. Born in Aughavas,

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority f ...

, his family moved to Skryne in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

, where O'Rourke spent his youth. He played competitive Gaelic football during his schooling at

St Patrick's Classical School St Patrick's Classical School () is a Roman Catholic-run school for boys in Navan, County Meath. It has produced a number of politicians, journalists, Irish sports personalities, broadcasters and two winners of the Perrier Comedy Award at the ...

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nbs ...

. O'Rourke first appeared for the Skryne 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) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. While studying at

he won a Sigerson Cup 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 medals in 1987 and 1988. He also won five Leinster medals, three

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

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 (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 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''.

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 Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An List of ethnic slurs#P, ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird ...

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

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 The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet n ...

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. 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. 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, reaching the final most recently in 2013. 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 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.

Teaching

For 42 years O'Rourke worked at

, 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 mens team. Despite his classical education, he has been known to mix up his

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

with his

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

in public. During the

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

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

Political beliefs

O'Rourke is an opponent of the welfare state. He is an

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and th ...

. He has written about his disapproval of

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

. O'Rourke wrote in defence of Phil Hogan after the

Oireachtas Golf Society scandal The Oireachtas Golf Society scandal, also known informally as "Golfgate", was a political scandal in Ireland involving past and present members of that country's parliament, the Oireachtas, who attended a gathering of the Oireachtas Golf Society ...

forced the

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they