Eire Og is blessed with having a number of workaholics in their midst. Kevin Carney meets one of them. Some faces at the top table never seem to change. The 'oul reliables, the stalwarts and the die-hards are omnipresent, it appears at a rake of clubs. Take Eire Og, for instance. Jim O'Rourke and Eire Og are almost mentioned in the one breadth these days by those on the outside looking in. He seems like part of the landscape there at this stage. Some say O'Rourke will only be detached from the Smithboro-based club 'kicking and screaming.' In truth, the long-serving Magherarney resident is really the sort of fella every ambitious club should have on board. A doer, a faithful servant, a man passionately committed to the cause. And that's just a handful of the dozens of cliches which could be applied to the genuine hard-core GAA gael. It goes without saying that it's not today or yesterday that Jim began to wear his pride in his club on his sleeve. In fact only he could probably put a date on the time he began to put something back into the game (and club) he loves after his playing days wound to a climax. Suffice to say, that he's been part of Eire Og's inner sanctum for as long as anyone within or outside the club can rightly remember. So where does his seemingly endless reserves of enthusiasm come from? "Love of the club," he replies. Given that he still wears nearly as many GAA hats as there are days in the week, one wonders why, for instance he continues to represent the club on the field of play as a top notch referee? Is he insane or just plain mad? "No. I do it because I enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be at it. "I've refereed matches at home, in Cavan, Letrim, Fermanagh and other counties and I've met a load of interesting people. "The players are often the ones you end up being best of friends with. "They'd give out plenty during the match but once it's over, everything's forgotten and you get on the best with them," explains the 2002 Senior Football Referee of the Year who took charge of last Summer's IFC replay between Ballybay and Tyholland. Jim's refereeing career began in 1992 and was kick-started when the county board issued a dictat that every club had to supply two referees per season or else . . . Eire Og responded in positive, enlightened fashion to this order by inveigling Jim - a pioneer and non smoker - and Brendan McMahon to become their 'men in black.' Jim says that ten years after taking up the whistle, he was "lucky" to be afforded the honour of being appointed to referee the county's 2002 SFC decider between Clontibret and Magheracloone (the initial encounter). So what clinched it for him, i.e his appointment? "Don't know, maybe I got the rub of the green in 2002 in that I was closer to the play when it mattered most. "Maybe I saw a particular incident from just the right angle at just the right time. "Either way, all I can say is that I set out every year to do the job to the best of my ability. "I make mistakes like any human being would but I try to learn from them and not make them again. "In refereeing, like a lot of other things, you can't beat experience." Good memories of the Clontibret-Magheracloone decider? "Let's put it this was, I was very happy with the way things went. "My decision to add on some extra time came under a bit of scrutiny after the game, especially as Clontibret got a point during that time, but I had no problem with that. "Substitutions were made and that had to be taken into account." Those privvy to O'Rourke's modus operandi as a referee will tell you that the man is unstinting in doing his homework before a match, making sure he's physically and mentally prepared for the job in hand. He gets a bit of help along the way too. "Every now and again the referees go to Athlone or Croke Park where we're briefed on interpreting the rules and so on," Jim explains. Interestingly, Jim - Senior Hurling Referee of the Year in 2003 - often bumps into Offaly whistler Barry Kelly at those meetings and the two get on well. The Monaghan man felt for his midland contemporary when the unfortunate Kelly found himself in the middle of the row about the 'point that never was' in the UCD versus James Stephens Leinster club SHC clash at Portlaoise in November. "It's a case like that that underlines the need, in my mind, for video evidence to be used by the GAA. "I think the fourth official along the sideline should be able to look into a monitor and decide in a matter of seconds which is the right decision to take on any particular incident. "In this way, the score by James Stephens could have been examined straight away and while the end result might not have been reversed, at least fair play would have been seen to have been done," Eire Og's long-time club treasurer and county board delegate stresses. Similarly, the 44-year old club stalwart believes that umpires should be facilitated with buzzers like those with which linesmen are equipped. "How long sometimes does it take for an umpire to bring the referee's attention to an incident a 100 yards away from where the ref is positioned," Jim asks rhetorically. But does he feel that what happens on the football field should be concern solely of the GAA or should it become a civil matter? I think any incident, be it violent or otherwise, should be dealt with by the GAA and sorted out within the confines of the GAA. " It's a pity when things that happen on the field of play can't be kept out of the courts," Jim opines. Nevertheless he hastens to add that anyone in the GAA found guilty of abusing referees should be brought to book without exception by the GAA. Overall, it is crystal clear that the much respected Eire Og whistler is convinced that GAA referees need all the assistance technology can afford them as they seek to put a lid on the frequency and seriousness of unsavoury incidences. Pointedly, he is adamant that that job is getting more difficult with each passing year. "Refereeing is a lot more demanding now than when it was when I started off first. "Coaches and team-managers at club and county levels are under an awful lot more pressure to deliver and they are the ones primarily who intimidate and put on most pressure on referees. " It's a 'win at all costs' policy with most of them. "There's a big fear of losing and that generates tension among the players and everyone closely involved with the team which sometimes isn't too healthy," adds Jim who is fulsome in his praise for the support rendered to him by his four regular umpires, his "A-team", namely, Brendan McMahon, Noel Mullaney, Michael McCarron and Dermot Connolly. The vastly experienced Eire Og official has garnered quite a reputation for himself over the years and, apart from officiating in the aforementioned 2003 blue riband county decider, his performances in the Ulster Junior and Ulster Shield finals in recent times have added greatly to his c.v. In the true sense of the term, Jim's involvement in the GAA, as a player, coach, administrator and referee has been a proverbial 'labour of love.' When he played football for the club - and hurling for Monaghan Harps - he always gave it his all. Over the intervening years, Jim has given much more back to the game(s) than he arguably ever got out of it (them). One wonders just how much there's left in the tank? "I'll maintain my involvement as a referee for as long as I'm allowed. "There's talk of referees being stepped down once they reach 48 and when that time comes I suppose I might have to make a decision. And the selling of the club lotto, attendance at meetings and all the rest of the baggage that goes with being at the coalface of a progressive GAA club? "I'll stick with it as long as I'm still enjoying the involvement and have the enthusiasm for it," Jim insists. Michael Cusack, Archbishop Croke et al couldn't have wished for a better disciple, methinks. Tweet

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