Shane O’Rourke is 29 years of age and neither Meath, Ireland or the entire football-loving world has ever seen the best of him.
That’s a shame.
It’s a shame for him, it’s a shame for his county but it’s a shame for football.
His talent is no secret in Royal circles but his mammoth potential has been left relatively unfulfilled that it’s hard to just accept.
Straight out of minor, O’Rourke led Meath to an unprecedented All-Ireland semi-final as a teenager. They beat Tyrone along the way but fell to Cork in the 2007 penultimate round.
Already, O’Rourke was becoming known around the island but, since then, in the space of one decade, he’s been forced into three different hip operations.
In 2011, he was struck down with injury and never made a return until 2014. He hasn’t played for Meath since then and it must be hard to stomach for the Leinster outfit.
He did lead Simonstown to a county title last season under the stewardship of his father Colm O’Rourke but a lot of that success was helped by the fact his dad was able to take a sensibly sympathetic approach to what Shane could and couldn’t do.
“He’s had a tough time of it with injury,” Colm O’Rourke explained on The GAA Hour after their triumph last year.
“He’s probably never really been able to get to the heights that he was probably entitled to.
“[The county title] was a fantastic thing for him because he’s suffered a lot.
“10 years ago, he looked like he was going to be one of the best young footballers in the country and you would’ve expected that he’d be playing constantly with Meath at a high level but he’s had so many injuries.
“Three hip operations later and he’s probably produced some of the best football of his club career anyway but he’s still hampered with an inability to train much. He’s very sore after games and spends a lot of time in the gym.”
O’Rourke’s a big man. He’s a hefty, dominant player who’s as strong in the air as he is in the tackle.
But he’s a classy footballer too, balanced and clever and deadly accurate and most Meath Gaels would argue that his best position is in the forward line where he could rip back lines apart himself.
One Meath attacker who’s seen his effect up close and personal is Cian Ward.
“Shane O’Rourke pretty much single-handedly brought Simonstown to a senior championship in Meath last season,” Ward said on the most recent GAA Hour podcast.
“He’s an incredibly good player but just, unfortunately, with the volume of training it takes at inter-county level, his body probably couldn’t sustain it.
“I don’t know whether he’ll make that transition back to inter-county football – I’m sure Andy McEntee would love to have him. It’s just whether or not the body can take it.”
He’s just turned 29 and he’s just as effortless and as stylish as before. The entire country deserves to see this man give it one last rattle. But he deserves it more than anyone.
