Colm ‘Collie’ McGurk has been described as the “bravest Lavey man of all time” by the club’s chairman after the former Derry star’s sudden passing yesterday.
As a dual player, McGurk won four Derry Senior Football titles 12 county hurling titles and helped Lavey to the All-Ireland Club football title in 1991. He was also on the Derry panel that won the county's only ever Sam Maguire back in 1993 and was in the Derry side which won the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship in 2000. In later years, McGurk had managed the county’s senior hurlers.
All seven of his brothers were also accomplished sportsmen. Anthony McGurk won two Allstar awards in the 1970s, Hugh Martin captained Derry in the 1980s, while Johnny won an Allstar on that All-Ireland winning team of 1993.
Colm was also director of McGurk Architects, which was responsible for well-known projects such as Derry GAA’s acclaimed Owenbeg hub outside Dungiven and the Raidió Fáilte and Áras Uí Chonghaile buildings on Belfast’s Falls Road.
“The words 'Collie has passed' spread across our community today,” said Erin’s Own chairman Paddy Chivers last night.
“Pound for pound, he was probably the bravest Lavey man of all time. The thoughts and prayers of our entire community are with his wife Sinéad, daughters Orla, Aoife and Méabh, his son John, and the entire McGurk family.
“Despite being an All-Ireland winner with club and county, Collie McGurk represents something greater than sport and Gaelic games. With his insatiable spirit, energy and lust for life, Collie McGurk was not made for defeat in any walk of life. No challenge, big or small, ever went unmet and his focus was always on the next challenge, the next task, on tomorrow.”
Chivers also paid tribute to the amount of time McGurk dedicated to the underage squads at Lavey: “Having managed Derry senior hurlers, Collie was currently guiding a group of young Lavey minor hurlers on a path he had journeyed, playing a game he had so much passion for.
“No words will ever do justice to the life and memory of Colm McGurk, but we must try. A brave, generous, determined, talented, kind, altruistic, inspirational and loving man with a formidable life force has left us. His unbreakable spirit and legacy of service to his family, community and county will endure.”
Derry GAA chairman John Keenan, meanwhile, praised the influence McGurk had on Gaelic games development throughout the Oak Leaf county and beyond.
"Colm was small in stature but a giant of Derry GAA. His ambition for his club and county matched his energy and drive to improve and develop our community and its people,” Keenan said.
"Colm McGurk's influence can be found on the blueprints of many areas of the GAA in Derry and Ulster. Colm McGurk brought energy and passion to everything that he did. He was terrific company and will be very sadly missed.”
