Colm O'Rourke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Colm O'Rourke**
Personal information
Sport	Gaelic football
Place of birth	Aughavas, County Leitrim, Ireland
Club information
Club	Skryne
Position	Centre Forward
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Skryne
Inter County
County	Meath
Position	Corner Forward
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Meath	1975-1995
Inter County Titles
Leinster Titles	5
All-Ireland	2
All-Stars	3
* club appearances and scores correct as of {{{clupdate}}}. **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of {{{icupdate}}}.

Colm O'Rourke (Irish: Colm Ó Ruairc) (born 31 August 1957) is a retired inter-county Irish Gaelic footballer for County Meath in Ireland and a panellist on RTÉ's The Sunday Game. Despite becoming famous for playing for Meath, O'Rourke is not a Meathman by birth, he was born in a small parish called Aughavas Co. Leitrim.^[1] He moved with his family as a youngster from Leitrim to Meath due to the Land Commission granting land to westerners in Meath and Kildare. O'Rourke is a descendant of the great Uí Ruairc royal house of Breffni. He has, however, been accepted by the people of Skryne in Meath as one of their own forty years after arriving from Aughavas. He is a secondary school teacher in St. Patrick's Classical School in Navan where he has trained the Gaelic football to numerous successes at provincial and national level throughout the past two decades^{[citation needed]}. He has also managed his own sports shop in Navan Shopping Centre, Colm O'Rourke Sports, during this period. He started working on The Sunday Game with RTÉ in 1991, and has simultaneously been a regular contributor of sports columns in national newspapers. He is continously being linked with the Meath GAA manager's job, previously held by another man with strong Leitrim connections, Sean Boylan. It is also widely rumoured that he is being courted by political parties to run in the next General Election.^[2]

[edit] Playing career

Colm is now retired from his footballing career. He has won two All-Ireland medals with Meath, in 1987 and 1988. He also won five Leinster Championship medals and three National Football League wins. He managed the Irish team for the Compromise Rules competition for two successful outings. O'Rourke received three All-Star for Meath in 1983, 1988 and 1991. His performance, playing with a bandaged knee, in the legendary Dublin-Meath matches of the summer of 1991 are still recounted in Meath and drew admiration from GAA fans throughout Ireland. When playing for Meath he was part of a Full Forward line of himself, Brian Stafford & Bernard Flynn, widely regarded as one of the best Full forward lines of all time. It should also be noted that Colm in the past few years has managed Simonstown Gaels GFC in Navan guiding them to two Meath Senior Football Finals in 2003 and 2004 losing on both occasions, However he did guide the club to its first adult title in 2005 winning the Meath Football League Division 1.

Preceded by Shea Fahy (Cork)	Texaco Footballer of the Year 1991	Succeeded by Martin McHugh (Donegal)

[edit] References

^ "Colm O’Rourke Happy 51st", The Hogan Stand, Lynn Publications, 1991-09-13. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
^ Mac Carthaigh, Sean. "Playing the by-election blues", The Post.ie, The Sunday Business Post, 2004-01-25. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.