Jacqui Hurley (born 15 January 1984, in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

) is a

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

and chat show host employed by

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, ...

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

RTÉ News RTÉ News and Current Affairs (), also known simply as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster (RTÉ). Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative ...

and presents ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...

'' highlights programme and co-presents '' Up for the Match'' alongside

Des Cahill Desmond Cahill (born 12 December 1959) is an Irish sports presenter and commentator with national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. From 2009 to 2022, Cahill presented RTÉ television's GAA highlights programme ''The Sunday Game''. He p ...

. She co-presented ''Sunday Sport'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 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 the station in 2010 w ...

from 2009 to 2023. Hurley has played at the highest Irish level in the sports of basketball and

camogie Camogie ( ; ) 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 "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

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 ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

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 ...

(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 (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, 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 The Ob (; ) is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia, and with its tributary the Irtysh forms the world's seventh-longest river system, at . The Ob forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins in the Alta ...

'', a Friday preview slot on the daytime chat show ''

Seoige ''Seoige'' is an Irish television chat show. It was hosted by sisters Gráinne and Síle Seoige and was broadcast live on weekdays at 4.30pm on RTÉ One between 2006 and 2009, with a hiatus in the summer months. Episodes were repeated at 8. ...

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

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

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 Millw ...

'' aired on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

, where she questions a different footballer each week for sixty seconds. Hurley has presented the sports quiz show ''

Know The Score ''Know The Score'' was an Irish sports quiz show produced by RTÉ which started airing on 6 November 2016 on RTÉ One. The show was presented by Jacqui Hurley with team captains Ruby Walsh Rupert "Ruby" Walsh (born 14 May 1979) is an Irish f ...

'' on RTÉ since November 2016. On 22 January 2023, RTÉ announced that Hurley would be the new presenter of ''

'' highlights show, succeeding

Radio

Hurley started working for

Live 95fm Live 95 is a radio station in Ireland owned by News Broadcasting, broadcasting mainly to Limerick city and county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictiona ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

after her time in college, where she covered Munster's 2006 Heineken Cup win for the station. She often appeared on ''

The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show ''The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show'' was an Irish breakfast radio show, broadcast weekdays on RTÉ 2fm. The show, hosted by Colm Hayes and Jim-Jim Nugent, began broadcasting in March 2007 when the duo moved from rival station FM104. ''The Col ...

'' on

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

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. In January 2023, she announced that she would be leaving the show after 14 years to focus on other TV work commitments and spending time with her family.

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 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 ...

footballers

Eamonn Fennell Eamonn Fennell (born 1984) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the St Vincents club and, formerly, for northside club O'Tooles. He has played for the Dublin county team in the past. Inter-county Fennell was first brought onto the Dublin tea ...

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 for ...

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

Pieta House Pieta House (rebranded as simply Pieta in 2020) is an Irish charity established in 2006 by Irish politician Joan Freeman, focusing on suicide prevention and support for individuals engaging in self-harm. While it has played a significant role in ...

. 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 sports broadcasters RTÉ Radio 1 presenters RTÉ 2fm presenters Irish electronic dance music DJs Irish women columnists Irish women radio presenters Irish women bloggers Broadcasters from County Cork 21st-century Irish sportswomen