He has three sons, James, Patrick and Marc and a daughter, Fíadh, with his girlfriend Helen, who won an All-Ireland intermediate club camogie championship with Lavey.[4]
In April 2016, McGurk pleaded guilty to the theft of £572,206 from a construction company between 2006 and 2011.[5] He was sentenced to ten months imprisonment in May 2016,[6] of which he served 5 and a half.[4]
He made his Derry senior debut in 1988 as a 19-year-old against Antrim in the National Football League.[2] He was part of Derry's 1993 Ulster Championship and All-Ireland winning team, which beat Cork in the final. McGurk added a second Ulster Championship medal in 1998.
Among McGurk's hurling honours was winning the Ulster Under 21 Hurling Championship with Derry in 1986, defeating Antrim and Down along the way. He scored 1-01 against Antrim in the semi-final at Loughguile in a 2-20 to 1-06 victory. They beat Down in the final after a reply; 3-09 to 1-02. McGurk's brother Collie was also part of the panel.[8]