Colm O’Rourke reveals that he applied for the Meath job three times

"I think that should put it to bed."

In the wake of Andy McEntee leaving his post as Meath county manager, the talk has already switched to possible replacements. McEntee was in charge of The Royals for six seasons, and although it started very well, even getting promotion to Division One, things turned sour. Trouble with the county board and online abuse only made the issues worse, and now one potential applicant has already ruled himself out for the job. Speaking on the Sunday Game, former Meath footballer and RTE pundit Colm O'Rourke has confirmed that he will not be throwing his name into the hat.

"I’m involved in club management, I’m very happy in club management and I have been for quite a while,” he said during RTÉ’s live coverage of Cork and Limerick’s All-Ireland SFC Round 2 qualifier. “I did actually go for the Meath job on three occasions in the past and even somebody as stupid as I am would get the hint that when you’re told ‘No’ on three occasions, I think that should put it to bed.

“My beautiful wife Patricia has a very negative view toward managing the county team”, O’Rourke continued, “and with good reason when you see the upshot of Andy McEntee going and the social media abuse than has taken place.

“People who put in enormous time at their own expense – it’s not like Pep Guardiola getting £15m a year – an then being subjected to that sort of thing by unnamed people.

“I can’t understand how, in a society, we can allow people to abuse others without having given their name and address. It’s just a shocking indictment of society in general.”