BY KIERAN McCARTHY
JOHN O’Rourke has dedicated the last 19 years of his life to Cork football, but feels now is the right time to step away.
Having begun his inter-county journey at U14 level, the Rosscarbery man played every grade through to senior, and after 12 seasons at the top (2013 to ’24) O’Rourke has decided to hang up his inter-county boots.
‘Cork football has been a constant every year,’ he says, in his first interview since his retirement was announced on Tuesday.
‘I was one of those players when Cork first started up the development squads, so I started U14 and went on to U15, U16, minor, U21 and then senior, all the way though.
‘I was 19 years involved with Cork, from U14 up to senior, without a year off.’
Next year will look a lot different without his Cork commitments, but the versatile forward is content with the decision he has made. Life moves on, and O’Rourke (32) is ready for that. After the 2024 inter-county championship campaign saw him make two brief substitute appearances in Cork’s six games (Munster SFC quarter-final v Limerick on April 7th, All-Ireland series v Clare on May 18th), O’Rourke weighed up the effort required and the reward.
‘The main reason (I’m retiring) is game time, and last season not getting game time. The effort that goes in is greater and greater every year, so when you are coming to 32 going on 33, you want to play,’ he explains.
‘There is a very good squad there that can do well next season, but realistically for me it’s about game time and it’s hard when you’re doing all the training but not playing.
‘I felt that wasn’t going to change next year so the best decision for me was to finish up and call it a day.’
There is a lingering regret, he admits. In an ideal world O’Rourke wanted Cork back in the big-time before he stepped away, but the reality is different – the Rebels are still battling to get back into Division 1 of the league since their relegation in 2016. When the Carbery Rangers man joined the panel, Cork were a Division 1 powerhouse under Conor Counihan, but the Rebels’ fortunes have since nosedived in both league and championship.
‘In my own head I didn’t want to finish with Cork until we had won something substantial, whether it was a Munster championship or a Division 2 title, but it just wasn’t to be,’ O’Rourke says.
‘That’s the hardest part, walking away having not achieved that. I wanted to get Cork back into Division 1 and play the big games – that’s where I started and it was a big goal to get Cork back to that level.
‘In the last few seasons we felt we were good enough to get out of Division 2 but we just weren’t consistent enough to achieve that.
‘I haven’t had any bad injuries in a long time, I feel fitter and faster than ever because the strength and conditioning in Cork is so good now, so physically I am in good shape but realistically I had to weigh up was the level of sacrifice worth it.’
O’Rourke’s connection to Cork football is tied to home in Rosscarbery. His neighbour Micheál O’Sullivan lined out for the county. So too did John Hayes and Kevin MacMahon. As did the late Tony Murphy, who coached O’Rourke at U12 level with Ross. Those links mean a lot to O’Rourke, and he was the latest Carbery Rangers man to represent the Rosscarbery club on the big stage.
Even on one of his early low days in a Cork jersey, the 2010 All-Ireland minor final that the Rebels lost by a single point to Tyrone in Croke Park, his spirits were then lifted when he watched John Hayes and Kevin MacMahon raise the Sam Maguire after Cork beat Down in the senior decider.
‘To see my own two clubmen lifting the cup was great. I idolised them, and at least I was able to follow in their footsteps and play for Cork, but not emulate their success,’ O’Rourke says, though his longevity has to be applauded. Almost two decades of unbroken commitment.
Carbery Rangers' John O'Rourke will be a key man for his club against Castlehaven on Sunday.Going right back to his early days at U14 level, Brian Hurley was on the panel too, and the Ross and Haven footballers walked every step together for the last 19 years. Those are the memories that will endure. And the friendships too – O’Rourke was Matty Taylor’s best man at his wedding in October 2023. Then there’s the legendary Mick Curtin who O’Rourke says was at every Cork training session he has ever attended. The football chapter is over, but the friendships will remain.
Even closer to home again, John is the oldest and set the bar for his brothers to follow, and they all stepped up to play with Cork – Thomas at minor (2012) and U21 (2015), Cathal at minor (2015) and Peadar with the U20s (2023). Again, special memories.
Then there’s his rock, his wife Jessie Twomey from Fermoy. Given her GAA background, she knows what it takes to play at the highest level, and it’s that support that helped O’Rourke line out season after season, all the way back to his senior debut in 2013 – this game also marked the start of a new era for Dublin football, as it turned out.
‘I was brought into the training panel in 2012 with Brian Hurley, we were filling in for games, and Cork were flying that year. It was one of those years that Cork could have won it,’ he explains.
‘2013 then was Conor Counihan’s last year, I was still U21, and they decided to give some of the younger lads some games. I played my first league game in Croke Park against Dublin in the opening game of 2013; it was Jim Gavin’s first match in charge of Dublin. I ended up playing centre forward on Ger Brennan, and scored three points from play.’
The good times didn’t continue though, as Cork football slipped, and O’Rourke went his entire senior career without winning a Munster SFC title, the last won by Cork in 2012. Still, there are games that stand out – he kicked three from play in the 2017 All-Ireland qualifier shoot-out loss against Mayo (0-27 to 2-20) in the Gaelic Grounds, ‘a crazy game full of attacking football’ he recalls. There was the epic Munster semi-final victory (1-12 to 0-13) against Kerry in November 2020, too, when ‘pure, hard graft’ got the Rebels over the line, but then came one of the biggest lows: losing the Munster final (0-17 to 0-14) two weeks later at home to Tipperary.
‘We didn’t perform at all, that was a serious opportunity we left behind, it was one of those ones that left a mark,’ O’Rourke admits, as he reminisces over his time in the red jersey. Now, Carbery Rangers will be his main football focus – and the 2016 Cork SFC winner is excited by that.
‘I can’t wait to help any way I can,’ he says, with consistent game time appealing.
‘I can’t wait to play in the county league, have games every two weeks and build up to the championship from that. It was hard this year coming back to the club having trained but not played, so to get regular games will be great. Every player wants to play games. Hopefully we can push on with Carbery Rangers and get back to where we were.’
The club is where it all starts and where it finishes, and Cork’s loss will be Ross’s gain, and O’Rourke has a lot of football left to play. He’s ready for the next chapter.
