Got the gig year after he retired as far as I remember
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Caption incorrect there I think. Was it not the 1993 final?
Fairly sure he retired in 95.
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Yes, O’Rourke was a regular pundit from 1991 on. The Sunday Game brought in a good few new pundits that year. They got rid of Enda Colleran and brought in O’Rourke and Jack O’Shea (who was also still playing) for the football and Jimmy Barry-Murphy for the hurling. O’Rourke was the co-commentator on the Louth-Laois fight which was the second part of a moderately attractive Leinster football double header after Meath v Wicklow and for the Down v Kerry All-Ireland semi-final.
He even did punditry on games he played in, usually the ones Meath would lose. He was definitely a pundit the night they lost to Dublin in 1993 anyway and he was a pundit on The Game On Monday (presented by Micheál O’Muircheartaigh) the night after the Dublin-Meath Leinster final in 1995, alongside Pat Spillane and Brian Mullins.
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I remember the great Michael Duignan was in the RTÉ studio for the 1996 AIHF in that old spot in the Nally, despite still being a formidable player. Was the studio adjacent to the scoreboard or housed within it? cc @Cheasty. He expressed a strong wish pre-match that Wexford would win & didn’t seem to have any resentment built up from meeting them a lot in Leinster (in fairness Offaly were winning most of those games up to the 1996 Leinster Final).
Wicklow must’ve had a decent enough team back then to take Meath to a replay. Or was it a case of Meath being fatigued after the 4 game saga with Dublin? Baltinglass had won the club All-Ireland a year before of course.
It was a case of both of things. Wicklow had a decent team by their standards but Meath were knackered after beating Dublin. Meath were probably cheated out of the win that day though by the ref blowing the final whistle as Bernard Flynn’s winning point was in mid-air.
Wicklow were expected to run Kildare close the following year in Croke Park but Kildare murdered them.
Wicklow should have beaten Kildare in 1993 in Croke Park though - they had a big half time lead - 9 or 10 I’d say, and Kildare reeled them in and won it late with a goal by Martin Lynch. This was the second game of a moderately attractive Leinster double header after Wexford beat Dublin in hurling.
Still playing, I remember reading Colm O’Rourke’s book years ago and he mentioned an incident in a match against Down where he gave DJ Kane a box in the mouth drawing blood; and Kane wondered out loud would it be highlighted on the Sunday game that night?
It was separated from the scoreboard. It was called “The Crow’s Nest”. You can see it in the background here.
Kevin O’Brien would have been playing back then for Wicklow.
Pretty sure he got an All Star.
Did Ciaran Hyland get one after in the days of Micko at corner back?
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He did. 1990. I used to have those All Stars posters in my bedroom as a lad.
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Had a look on Gaa.ie to see if you can buy them (you can, 40 euros each) and for some reason the design quality got significantly worse over time. Even the player pictures are worse.
I think Bank of Ireland or someone like that used to sponsor them.
It was Carrol’s originally. The father used to go to the banquets and come home with an All Star tie and 200 Carrol’s.
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A daysunt smoke
Stunning. Iconic.
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All the posters are in the hallway of the little wan’s Gaelic football club. I must take a proper look at them next time.
Apparently Cork’s John Horgan is only 24 here. He looks a fresh 50.
Pat Henderson could be his father
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