Conor MAGUIRE is a 29-year-old former Irish rugby player standing at 1.8 m and weighing in at 120 kg. He lives in Bettystown, Co Meath, and for the first 6 months of 2026, he joined a group of other young men at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, exploring a potential vocation to the priesthood.
Conor's career spanned the Irish provincial teams of Leinster (2015 - 2017), Connacht (2018 – 2019, 2020), as well as the British Dragons RFC (2019, 2021), Gloucester (2020 - 2021), Hartpury RFC (2021 - 2022) and Richmond FC (2022 - 2023).
A neck injury in 2023 led to rethinking his life path, and thus began the journey to Rome. Fr Pat Colgan, Irish Columban, also happened to be there in late May 2026, and got chatting at the College, inviting Conor to join a gathering that evening of some of Pat’s former students now doing postgraduate studies at the Marist Fathers' House. Conor had played against many Fijians and Tongans on rugby pitches in the UK and Australia, and had great respect for their skill but also their (off-pitch) gentleness and their faith. Conor jumped at the opportunity. His comment, “If I only knew a parish in Fiji, I would love to spend time there, giving back some of my rugby knowledge and experiencing their life”, got Fr Pat thinking and talking with colleagues back in Fiji (Pat spent 21 years there).
Three months later, Conor has already spent 7 weeks in the country, offering rugby clinics in the villages of Labasa Parish and also contributing to the work of the catechists and the youth in the sacramental and Bible classes that are so popular there.
The people have taken him to their hearts, celebrating his 29th birthday there “like a king”!
Columban parish priest, Fr Euikyun Carlo Jung, acting parish priest Fr Taaremon Matauea, the Parish Council and catechists of Holy Family have been grateful to this “gentle giant” for his willingness to live the life of the people, fishing and farming with them, bathing in the rivers and sleeping with or without a mosquito net in houses or in the open.
A spontaneous comment coming from a random meeting leading to a young man taking himself to the other side of the world, talks of adventure, yes, but also of faith.
Conor will now continue his discernment of God’s call. We wish Conor all the best and thank him for his long journey to the “Friendly North” of Labasa!
The “Bettystown Beast” has become a “Babasiga (Labasa) Lion” !!
Columban Fr Pat Colgan lives and works in Ireland.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
